


Heroes, Villains, and Everything in Between

by WhoknewZeus



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Dark, I can't help myself, I really like giving happy ends, I wasn't sure on posting it at first, Kyungsoo is like really fucking kind here, Lots of it, M/M, Morbid, Realism, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Violence, angsty, fluff but equally disturbing as well, graphic fic, he's not all that nice to anyone that isn't Chanyeol, it ends happy, it's somewhat political honestly, just saying, mature - Freeform, people really shouldn't read this fic if they can't handle it, relationships are hard, smut later on, spoiler - Freeform, superhero-Chanyeol, this became multichaptered bc I didn't want it to be overbearingly long, this universe took a lot of thought to write, though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-02 19:11:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10950921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoknewZeus/pseuds/WhoknewZeus
Summary: Being a hero was supposed to be worth something, worth the hardships. It wasn't supposed to make pyrokinetic elite-hero Chanyeol question the integrity of his morals.A recently opened jazz club called Exo'luXion introduced him to an aspiring singer named D.O. He would come to relearn the sweetness of romance with the live singer.In an effort to separate his personal life with his hero persona, he would find out that no matter how much he tries to distinguish them, the two worlds would eventually collide into a chaotic eyesore.





	1. A World Divided

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, yes, I am back with another Chansoo fic. Bc I am trash to this ship and cannot help myself. I really enjoyed the superhero au for these two, but I wanted to change a little of the powers here and there. Not too much of a change tho. It's just subtle. Kinda... anyways, I also wanted to explore the realism that would be involved in the interaction of this world (the overall questionable dynamics that run through this universe) and gave it a lot of thought as I wrote this fic by myself. Please try to ignore little (or big) grammar mistakes or misspellings that are hidden in this big ass fucking fanfic while reading it, then you can bring it up to me in the comment section at the end! Since I am always trying to improve myself as a writer each and every day.
> 
> I'll try to update every Saturday, giving my readers a chance to catch up and read up on the subtle foreshadowing I put in my writing for later chapters. I also thought about how event-filled this fic was that I realized that I couldn't put it as a one-shot since it has way too many things going on for readers to just skim over. I particularly aimed my writing this time towards slow readers to enjoy more, honestly. But I won't force you guys to change your reading habits! Read as you see fit for yourself c: 
> 
> WARNING: THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING YOU GUYS GET. I wrote this fanfic to contain graphic violence and other scenes. It mentions controversial things here and there (shady actions performed by big businesses. Death of minor characters.) and extreme hardships shared between the characters in this story. I want you all to be able to read something that you all can handle. I don't want someone that isn't into this kind of stuff to read my work.

Chanyeol never admitted to anyone that he found being a superhero _boring_. It really was, though. Going out of his way to embark on a dangerous mission, which if not done properly could lead to his own demise or even others, fighting off the assigned villain, saving citizens along the way, and transferring the villain to the government’s police force that specifically handles detaining humans with supernatural powers. It was a process similar to the clothes in the washer; it would wash, spin, soak, spin, clean, spin, and spin, and spin until his stomach wanted to hurl. Then it would repeat it all again. A cycle to go on and on until Chanyeol was sick again.

In Chanyeol’s honest opinion, he found it exhausting at some point between fighting the best-of-the-best villains and protecting people that he was not associated with in any sort of way. Sometimes he wondered if he could go rogue and betray the Heroes Society, the same organization that introduced him to the life of being a superhero. But it wasn’t something to think aloud, though, for it would bring him more burdens to carry on his aching back. So, he could only empty his frustrations when he quietly stamped his signature emblem on the paperwork after completing his assignments. Heroes or office workers? The line smeared over each other each time Chanyeol thought about it. It was laughable, frankly.

Luckily, there were declared days of leisure that Chanyeol gratefully took to heart. Chanyeol’s days off were every Friday and Saturday. He tried to send a request to get the whole weekend included, but his hope was always sent in the rejected pile.

The struggles of being an in-demand hero, sadly. Maybe he was being overwhelmed with new responsibilities since he progressing through the ranks of hero-hierarchy. Or maybe he was just lazy?

Regardless, being a hero was nothing to what he had imagined when he was 12-years-old. Now that he was twenty-four, and not an ignorant teen anymore, he questioned how long he could keep this career (job) up. It certainly paid handsomely in comparison to being a waiter, teacher, or musician, so he shouldn’t be complaining too much about it. A respectable amount to vent out, but not everything clogged inside of him.

Well, that wage was a white lie. Chanyeol knew the pay varied upon the level and type of mission. Rescuing cats from trees or helping the elderly cross the street can barely get you pocket money for the convenience store. And the top-class heroes that got assigned to bringing down the most heinous of villains were getting paid millions and millions of cash. Fortunately, Chanyeol was considered to be part of that elite rank in the Heroes Society. He, however, cannot say the same for the lower superheroes that struggle to climb the ladder to be recognized and be paid equally. 

Contrary to popular belief, every single person acted normal in public. No one wanting to talk about being a hero or villain publically. Instead, there were heroes shopping with their villain buddies, joining sports team together, or merely having sex with each other. It was normalized for a long time now. Hell, Chanyeol was eating at a McDonald’s with a low-class villain and making a great conversation with them about the duties that were expected of them. It was odd for the two differing sides to be bickering, quarreling, and essentially destroying each other when they could be living in harmony if they gave it a try. 

However, the highest, evilest villains controlled the ranks of their organization and made other villains do irrational things, such as blowing up buildings and going on murdering sprees. If they didn’t follow through, their existence was erased entirely from the face of the planet. It was a lose-lose situation. The Heroes Society was built to counteract this exact problem of rising occurrences of nasty villains. On the other hand, the Heroes Society was an enormously powerful institution worldwide and was not entirely seen as a happy-go-lucky organization since they also did 'under the table' business. The heroes could come together and attempt to right the unjustified actions that were in H.S. Then again, Chanyeol was only one hero out of hundred others. So he felt his opinion didn’t matter because they only see him as an object to be used at their disposal. Not to mention that collecting everyone to band together was a great plight on its own.

So what was left for Chanyeol to do?

Earn money and fight supposed crime, then live modestly while donating a good proportion of his earnings to charities—it was all he could do for his moral compass to stop spinning.

Despite the crazy amount of zeroes in his bank account, he was renting an apartment for cheap in a shantytown. Never had he not found it hilarious when he would invite his peers over to be entertained by their distasteful reaction. ‘You live like this?’ or ‘I was expecting… more from you, Yeol’ they would say to him. He’d only shrug and continue being a considerate host for his guests. It would go to say that not many of them would come back to visit again afterward. His list of friends was diminishing, anyway. Not that he cared in the first place. 

 _Elitist assholes_ , Chanyeol sighed and prepared to eat his ramen dinner by the TV. A quirky perk of having fire-manipulation powers was that he didn’t need to use a lot, or any for that matter, of his gas or the stove. Winter season surely wasn’t a problem for him, either. As long it all meant he could save more money on his rent, then he was content on that idea alone.  

Ah, nothing felt better than feeling financially stable in his life. He remembered struggling to get something to eat when he first debuted as a hero, but hard work and perseverance did wonders for him. Despite the hardships that he endured, he would say that it was worth it to get to where he was. Now at the end of every month after paying his rent, he would give 25% of his earnings to charities to leave him in good spirits for a week. Being a hero never meant that he was exempted from all the negativity of the world, he was able to empathize with the helplessness and destruction of people’s hopes and dreams that villains would often take.  He saw it in himself to return the needed light to the world that was darkened by injustice, war, and despair. 

He brutally remembered the time that he and other heroes arrived at a scene of innocent civilians at a mall that was mercilessly and indiscriminately mauled and shredded by a butcher maniac. Chanyeol stopped eating his noodles and looked at the ripples of his reflection in his soup, lamenting over the dead bodies he saw that morbid day. “May they rest in peace,” Chanyeol sighed, picking up his bowl, bringing it over to the sink, thoroughly cleaning it as well.

If he didn't say it before, he would say it now: being a hero was dreadful. He almost felt misled by the concept that he would use his powers for justice and serve to protect the human race from multiple threats. It all seemed like a great idea at first, but it had too many dark realities awaiting for him to open.

He picked up his gasmask from the living room and dropped onto his single-sized bed. Blankly staring into the clear red glass around the eye sockets as he thought about quitting once again. They said that there would be responsibilities to this job, but they never mentioned the part of the description that said that there would be numerous deaths on their hands more often than they’d like. Maybe he was becoming desensitized to the gruesome image, but he also couldn’t blame him for losing feelings each time he saw it happen. Overexposure to graphic sceneries was beginning to change him.

Secret identities were recommended strongly, if not forcibly required, for elite heroes. Unfortunately, Chanyeol was one of those, so he had to keep his identity in check or else thousands of villains would come to blast his door and impale a spear through his skull. The last thing he needed was to be woken up by explosions in his side of the quiet town. Envious of other smaller heroes, Chanyeol sometimes wished he was the low-ranking heroes that didn’t even get pressured to wear a mask or something to hide their face because they were not considered as ‘important’ as the other heroes. Even among their own colleagues, there was pettiness, distrust, and inequality that lingered within the Heroes Society. Nothing was perfect in this world, but the taller hero supposed he could make the most out of it. 

Frankly, there wasn’t anything really classified as ‘fun’ to do in the rundown area of where he lived. He would have to go into the next town over in order to obtain anything mildly entertaining. Not like he minded entirely, though. It played as a good excuse to explore his side of the world and be out and about. At least that was what Chanyeol would like to believe. As long as he was off-duty, he would go to have fun in any way to live up to his youth while it was still his.

What Chanyeol was expecting was to be at a nightclub, being drop-dead wasted, hooking up with someone mildly attractive to him, waking up in a room that wasn't clearly his, and doing the walk of shame home the following morning. Instead, however, he was seated in a classy jazz club at 8 pm on an early Friday night by himself. He overheard the name of a newly opened jazz bar at a meeting about an upcoming threat to the Heroes Society. He wasn’t paying too much attention to what the threat was, but he liked the idea of listening to live music. So, there he was, dressed in a semi-casual clothing, wondering when the red curtains would reveal the awaited performer.

On too many occasions to count, his laziness would never let him travel across the world to find this jazz club, so it was really great that it was nearby instead. The bar was located in the night city part of the next town from where he lived, so Chanyeol was extremely pleased with the location. Even though it was an hour and a half taxi drive there, he still found it relatively close by. Hopefully, if the music was good, he could spend his time on Fridays trying to give his ears a break from the violence and pleads for help. Maybe even feel a bit like a non-metahuman for once.

The said place was called Exo’luXion, and he cannot figure out why it was spelled in such… an interesting way. The name gave a weird vibe to Chanyeol, but he frittered little of his time and energy on it. If you got the money to own a business, you can call it whatever the hell you want! Be it Fook Yui or Fook Mi, it's your business, not anyone else's.

A shadow ruffled through the tall red velvet curtains, making its way to the center of the stage. _Is that the Penguin from Batman?_ Chanyeol judgmentally thought as a short man in a classic black and white tuxedo walked up to the mic. The spotlight dawned on him before the lights toned down. Chanyeol quietly sat in his booth in the back, which was closest to the bar serving all the booze to customers, and observed the man’s awkward disposition. People's chattering and clinking their alcoholic beverages ceased to make audible noise. All attention was on the little man on the open stage.

“We-Welcome everyone to Exo’luXion’s live music night. My name is D.O., and I will be your live entertainment,” the timid, owl-eyed man shyly spoke into the microphone. Chanyeol was assuming that this young man was still new to the showbiz limelight or maybe this was his first overall show if he was not confident enough to articulate. It was an important element for a singer to project themselves on a mic. Or at least Chanyeol personally thought it was.

“The first song I will sing will be Never Never Land. Music please,” the supposed singer sheepishly said, letting the curtains behind him reveal the musicians that began to play their various instruments to the first measure on their music sheets. The trumpets sang first along with an acoustic guitar before the piano cascaded upon the formed rhythm.

“I know a place where dreams are born~,” D.O. smiled fondly to the audience, captivating and surprising every person with his smooth, low pitch. Effortlessly hypnotizing the ears, a blooming confidence was radiating from his body that swallowed everyone inside of it like a monster. He left no survivors as they all were glued to their seats while his voice melted over them like ice cream on a blazing heat storm of Korea’s ruthless summer. D.O.’s eyes narrowed as if he was the one judging the crowd and not the other way around. His scandalous smirk and flick of the tip of his tongue erected the audience’s awe in more ways than one. One man had to push down a forming tent in his pants as a few ladies were fanning the sweat that lined on the side of their face. This was only brought out because of D.O.’s influential singing. No one was registered as a hero nor a villain, for they were all helpless prisoners to the heavenly music as it locked them to their individual seat. As they all remained in the shadows, D.O. shined vastly onstage as if he were the graceful full moon that outshined the stars.

Chanyeol couldn’t remember when his mouth dropped or when his heart was beating faster than it usually did. As if his brain was being fried in vegetable oil, his whole body already consumed by the lines of the lyrics, the only thing that was not numbed to D.O.’s singing was his ears and heart. Charmed, bewitched, Chanyeol realized halfway through his obliviousness that the song entered an instrumental break as D.O. lovingly and slowly swayed with nobody on stage. Lonely but enticing. 

“In neeever~ never… lannnd,” D.O. perfectly finished the song on a soft vibrato, bowing to the audience’s momentary silence. “Thank you,” he said, returning back to his normal stoic expression. However, the crowd broke in a paroxysm of cheers and screams. Chanyeol, being part of it, stood up free as if the spell that was cast on him earlier had disappeared, and he clapped harder than anyone, practically begging for an encore. Never did he expect to be captivated by a single song by a singer!

 

 

 

 

By 10 pm, he nervously found himself outside the entrance of the jazz bar, unwilling to accept the reality that the show was over. Chanyeol pulled out a pack of gum from his left pocket and promptly threw a chewy piece into his mouth to take care of his anxiousness. “D.O.,” Chanyeol threw the name into the chilly night air, letting his mind swallow it thick like a strawberry shake. He supposed he could go home now. No use loitering around. As he walked down the street but not too far from where he was, Chanyeol heard ruffling sounds and grunting from an upcoming alleyway, peeking from the side of the wall to see three guys crowding over someone.

“I do-don’t keep any money with me,” a familiar voice echoed, bringing a sudden heat inside of Chanyeol because he  _knew_ whose voice it belonged to.

“D.O.?” Chanyeol’s robust tone scared the men, subconsciously stepping with his big and awkward feet into the alleyway to confront the feud. A wide-eyed man was revealed, cowering between the filthy trash bags. A small bleeding cut was apparent on the singer's forehead, and it fueled the fire within Chanyeol as he stomped forward to interrupt whatever the three guys were up to. He spat out the gum that was reduced to the liquid inside of his extremely heated mouth. An ass-beating seemed to be necessarily called for.

One of the men intervened with Chanyeol and pressed his palm forward to shove the tall hero away. “Hey, why don’t you carry along and just let us have our _way_ with this cute fellow over her—” a booming punch collided, breaking off the guy’s speech, forcing the guy to fly backward next to where Kyungsoo was lying. Under normal circumstances, Chanyeol could have used a little least power against non-metahumans.

Careful to not let his flames permeate his skin, he only let the hot hands make contact with the second guy’s face and clearly knocked him out. Panic apparent on the third guy’s face, barely comprehending what was going on before he got an uppercut to his chin and fell forwards unconsciously. A small hint of amazement and hope was glittering in D.O.’s big eyes as his mouth was agape from what he witnessed. D.O. clutched at the black trash bags until the plastic torn under his grip because of how excited he was.

“A-a-a hero,” D.O. mumbled, staggering to get back on his feet. He differed entirely from what he was wearing on stage. A gray and fluffy vest over a (not so) white shirt and blue jeans. “Thank you, sir!” He quickly bowed and gave Chanyeol his respect. Chanyeol modestly remarked that he was only passing through when he heard the sounds of someone needing assistance. However, D.O. unexpectedly tiptoed and planted a  kiss that was cold as ice on the taller man’s sweltering lips.

Was ice powers a thing nowadays? Because Chanyeol remained frozen by the action as the shorter man giggled and walked out of the alleyway. “I’m Chanyeol!” He shouted loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. The flowers blooming in his chest making it difficult to breathe properly.

“D.O., if you didn’t already know, but I’ll let you use my real name. I’m Kyungsoo,” the black-floppy hair man was waving goodbye as he went home. “See you around, Chanyeol.” The singer left without a single care in this world, or the recent danger he was in, engraving a lasting impression on Chanyeol than the entrancing singing already did.

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol purposelessly uttered the new name, letting his cheeks flushed at how surprisingly confident the singer could actually be. He would come to know that name as second nature soon.

 

* * *

 

It never occurred how much Kyungsoo affected Chanyeol until he was in the heat of battle against an enemy that manipulated tectonic plates. They were on the outskirts, but the civilization nearby was greatly in danger if the enemy came into closer range. If Chanyeol was the only one there, he would not have been alive to tell the tale. Fortunately, the incredible team that he was dispatched with was able to bring his head out of his ass and forced him to heed to their commands closely.

He seriously could be mortified right now if his life was not at stake every moment he took a calm breath. Chanyeol’s an elite hero, a person that ascended through the astounding ranks of other amazing heroes to get where he was now, and he was making newbie mistakes by letting his personal life interfere with his hero life. The Mole, whose hatred for the people living on the surface after losing his home to a sudden sinkhole, which also only added more layers to his nickname, was a blind opponent from all the years hidden underneath the ground before discovering his supernatural powers. It made Chanyeol uneasy to fight someone with a disability. Did labels matter in this situation still?

Quite contrary to most assumptions about heroes’ attitude towards their nemesis, Chanyeol didn’t necessarily hate or dislike villains like the Mole. Reevaluating the Mole’s circumstances and empathizing with his despair, he only wished he could do something to right the wrong that lingered inside of the Mole’s heart. “Phoenix! Fucking blast him!” His teammate clamored before being piled underneath a barrage of stones. Oh, right, there was a battle going on.

Chanyeol could only bid his sorrow for the Mole away and put the duty of cleansing the world of impurities with his flames. Strangely, Kyungsoo’s voice sang vibrantly inside of his head, constricting his heart in melodies and pitches until the unknown emotion was dripping out in hot red liquids. He coldly glared at the Mole, reluctant to send his morals on the battlefield again. A burst of energy roamed through all of his nerves and conjured up a storm of fire that aimed precisely at the Mole. A ripple that cracked and burned. It swallowed and swallowed until everything was orange, red, and yellow.

The battle was over from there, and Chanyeol was lucky that the villain was not absolutely burnt to a crisp because he would be detained for his misconduct. His teammates thanked him for his contributions, but they also admonished him for almost killing them over his foolishness. However, he impatiently awaited for the weekend to come for him to go back to Exo’luXion and hear Kyungsoo onstage rather than complaints that his current team had.

 

* * *

 

Inevitably, it became a habit where Chanyeol would spend every Friday night listening to Kyungsoo’s live singing. Sitting down alone in a two-person booth near the back of the bar. He would only order water to drink because a hero hungover was a useless hero on the field. His fluttering heart doing backflips as Kyungsoo paid more and more attention each time he came. Without much words being exchanged between them, Chanyeol knew that those seductive side-eye glances and low-toned ‘you’s’ were directed towards himself. The zenith of his happiness peaked one time when Kyungsoo took the mic off from the stand and walked shamelessly and sexily into the audience and sat on Chanyeol’s lap to sing the chorus of Makin’ Whoopee.

The wolf whistles and overbearing screams resonated in Chanyeol’s ears, but it all quickly muted once Kyungsoo’s voice flooded in like a rushing river. It frightened the tall fire-manipulating hero that there was someone that could gently blow over his spark of flames with nonchalance before making the whole world go blank in darkness. He was falling fast and hard, and he was unsure if he was ready to give his heart to somebody he only knew on the surface with. However, Kyungsoo’s light and clear voice made it impossible to refuse his advances.

As Kyungsoo stood up, he was shaking his hips side to side to the piano keys and subtle drum taps as he left Chanyeol’s side, knowing how those wondering eyes would stare far too long than usual. “You’d better keeeep heeer, I know it’s cheaper~! Than makin’ whoopee~!” The music died out, letting the spotlight that was casually dragged to every area that Kyungsoo cat-walked to. Stopping after reaching the microphone stand, he mumbled, “Thank you.”

Once again, the crowd exploded in cheers. Actually, it seemed louder than it was before, so there were more people coming to Exo’luXion than before, which meant that there would be more chairs and booths filled. Chanyeol wondered where the growing popularity was coming from, but he didn’t doubt that Kyungsoo was a magnificent singer. There had to be advertising done on the side to bring more money in, or the power of social media was doing its rightful job in giving talented people the recognition and fame. Additionally, it might benefit the bar if it continued to go on the rise. It could even settle a better establishment rather than being at stuck at this current place that was almost hidden from everyone’s sights. Kyungsoo could get sponsorships, recording contracts, and so much more with his capabilities… but Chanyeol faintly desired the man to stay the same, right where they were.

He knew how selfish it would be to hold down somebody like Kyungsoo, or anybody for that matter. If they have the potential to excel further in their life, why should anyone stop them? It was the same concept as telling a bird to stop flying higher. The only cage big enough to hold it would be the vast blue sky that it would transcend to. The flowers that grew inside of Chanyeol’s lungs were beginning to be plucked by the unforgiving selfishness that also resided next to it. It scratched his dry throat, and it was time to get something to drink. “Ah, can I get another glass of water?” Chanyeol called out to a busy and passing waiter.

“Sure.”

Was he too rude in doing that? Chanyeol figured that he should tip the waiter quite handsomely for dealing with his awful attitude. When the waiter returned with his water, she also slipped him a napkin that had something written in black ink. Chanyeol curiously looked at the message that read _Meet me by the back door after the show - D.O._

Oh, yeah. He was liking Kyungsoo's attitude, how he did things such as this with untold bravery. It attracted Chanyeol to the center of the universe that rightfully belonged to Kyungsoo. Seeing that the music crew was still setting up for the next song, he pulled out his phone and logged into his Heroes Society account. The pyrokinetic checked his ranking among his peers and smiled at the number 61. It seemed like he was still keeping a pretty stable position. Anything under 100 was considered an elite hero rank.While he was at it, he also checked the list of wanted villains and read the list audibly to himself, “Black Widow. Thorn Queen and King. Hell’s Vanguard. Siren. Iron Maiden.”

 _At least most of the names sound cool_ , Chanyeol nodded in agreement with himself.

 Kyungsoo’s voice permeated through the room again. “Now, the next song I will sing is something a little modern to mix things up. Here’s Sunday Morning originally by Maroon 5.”

 Well, it was certainly going to be refreshing to Chanyeol’s ears.

 

 

 

 

 

When the audience dissipated and the bar started to close up, Chanyeol waited by the back door for Kyungsoo as promised. Maybe not accurately promising that he would agree to see the singer, but the hero had to be an absurd fool not to see someone as interesting as Kyungsoo. The rusty metal door slightly opened and revealed the short owl-eyed man holding a white balloon in one hand. “Ah, my hero, how are you?” Kyungsoo immediately greeted with a tender smile.

“Never been better,” Chanyeol weakly used a front, knowing that his days were beginning to get dull if he wasn't interacting with Kyungsoo. “Can I ask you something?”

Kyungsoo let the backdoor close on its own since it was locked from the inside only and held Chanyeol’s hand in the same hand where he was holding onto the crimson silky ribbon that was anchoring his balloon. “How about… we talk over dinner? My treat for saving me?”

Chanyeol almost gasped but only was taken back with his mouth agape. His perplexed expression gave Kyungsoo a bubbly giggle and hopeful eyes for a ‘yes’ to come out of Chanyeol’s innocent lips, but instead, “Okay. I would like that a lot.”

“Great. Let’s go!” Kyungsoo dragged the tall hero along with his spontaneous ideas.

Seeing this new side of the singer made Chanyeol wonder joyfully what kind of person was Kyungsoo. A mysterious one, for sure. Walking into this trap of curiosity, his tail was going to be snapped bloody off one way or another. He could only hope to play his cards in his hands right before he could get royally flushed.

 

 

 

 

Entering a wood-fire pizza restaurant that only stayed open for another three hours, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were seated immediately at a table in the center. Little people were dining in tonight, which made it easier for Chanyeol to open up about himself. Ordering simple items, Kyungsoo playfully twirled his straw in his water, moisture leaking down the transparent glass, his eyes examining Chanyeol’s fidgeting hands. “You don’t like it when you’re quiet, I take? Or maybe it’s the other way around?” Kyungsoo gently remarked as a question, whether it was meant to be a rhetoric or not was for the hero to find out. His knowing smirk jabbed a sword into Chanyeol’s fragile shield because he was not expecting how perceptive Kyungsoo actually was.

“Why do you refer to me as your hero?” Chanyeol straightforwardly asked, expecting a definite answer to satisfy his inquisitive mind, quirking his eyebrow and adding a sly smile, entertaining himself by the blush that was apparent on the other man. The milky balloon tied securely to the belt loops of Kyungsoo’s pants, but it faded into the background after Chanyeol ignored it more.

“You seem like a good guy is what I’m saying—you save those in need, not hesitating to put justice in evil’s mouth and all,” Kyungsoo stated, impressing the man across him how articulate he could be. “Plus, you come to my shows almost every Friday. You can’t be all that bad, but who knows? I have terrible judgment. You can be a stalker for all I know." Even if it was settled as a joke, the realization that Chanyeol was potentially described as a stalker scared his morality out of line. Before he could begin apologizing and opting to leave, Kyungsoo spoke again, “I’m just kidding! Sorry if I offended you, ‘Yeol. I have a bad habit of not knowing where our lines are. I just happen to blur everything if I want to get close to someone.”

The smile on Kyungsoo's face alerted Chanyeol’s advanced perception as if he was a fly wandering into a spider’s web. He didn’t know what it was, but he was surely getting played around more than the time he fought a telekinetic villain. The only difference between now and back then was that Chanyeol accepted Kyungsoo using trivial mind games. “You’re awfully talkative than I expected.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t brought up the fact that I kissed you without your consent,” Kyungsoo winked provokingly, acknowledging that he gave the hero something to slander him about.

Chanyeol laughed heartedly, calmly resting his hands on his lap. “That reminds me—”

“I’m sorry for that. I didn’t even take into account if you were cool about it or not,” Kyungsoo interjected, remorseful round eyes met Chanyeol’s pure ones. “I don’t expect you to forgi—”

“Oh, you’re forgiven,” Chanyeol interrupted Kyungsoo since there was a theme of that lately in their conversation, “let’s shake off our rocky start and begin again?”

“That was quick,” Kyungsoo’s eyes rolled jokingly. “I didn’t even get a chance to get sentimental.”

“Save it.”

“My, my,” Kyungsoo laughed, “whatta man, whatta man,” drawing the cold straw to his lips and sipping the refreshment. Swallowing thickly, he picked up his napkin, dabbed the area around his mouth, and tapped his shoes to the beat of the pop song faintly playing in the background. He studied Chanyeol endlessly, attempting to know what could make that man smile, angry, laugh, and yawn. He, too, would begin to find himself entwined in the idea of what Chanyeol was as a person.

 

 

 

 

Two plates intervened their train of thoughts, clattering a little in the waiter’s busy but dexterous hands. The waiter brightly smiled and told them to enjoy as they set the marble plates on Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s respective sides. One plate had chicken tenders; other plate had an ordinary caesar salad. The singer looked at his plate of chicken and decided to use the bathroom to wash his hands real quick. Chanyeol poked already at his salad and began to stuff his mouth of the leafy goodness. He secretly tried one of Kyungsoo’s tenders, but he realized how lukewarm they were. It disturbed him how they could serve him and D.O. crap that was microwaved in three minutes or less. However, the staff and its workers had to deal a lot with customers complaining (even when said customers honestly are wrong) and being paid barely minimum wage for many back-breaking hours. Chanyeol didn’t even want to get started on tipping the waiters correctly. Instead of adding to the struggles of the lower-class citizens, he first kept his cynical thoughts to himself, then he secretly used his fire powers to slightly cook the meal more.

By the time the talented singer returned, he stabbed his fork into his food and shoved it deliciously into his mouth. “Wow!! Chanyeol-yah, is it okay to use that suffix with you? But this chicken is cooked _so_ well!” Kyungsoo was beyond delighted at his appetizers.

“Really now?” Chanyeol amusedly smirked similarly to an infamous purple cat from Wonderland. He could get adjusted to keeping his powers under the radar while living under the pretense that he wasn’t a metahuman. He sent his longingly piercing glances and hoped for the other man to return fire soon, quite taken with Kyungsoo's kindness with offering parts of his food to share. Upon taking the breaded piece into his mouth, he munched hungrily. “Thank you.”

“Are you only eating a salad?” Kyungsoo whispered, genuinely concerned for Chanyeol’s appetite. A salad could only get you lightly filled in the stomach, and it was an appetizer for a reason. 

“Yeah, I can’t afford to get heartburn with all these greasy foods,” Chanyeol jokingly stated.

“Well, I guess I’ll order and eat the pizza alone then,” Kyungsoo pouted dramatically, puckering up his lush lips.

“What a child.”

“What an asshole.”

“You’re funny.”

“ _You’re_ funny,” Kyungsoo chuckled a little too loudly, poking at his tenders with his folk, showing a toothy grin for Chanyeol to treasure secretly.

The air remained light, careless, maybe even humorous with the stories that they told each other about stuff that happened in their separately unique lives. Kyungsoo mentioned how he never wanted, or at least considered, being a singer at some rundown bar at first. He wanted to help the orphans that ran wild through the city, hoping to find a warm home. A social worker possibly, he had said, but he followed a motto of cynicism that he should only focus on making a stable financial foundation for himself before believing he could be selfless. Supporting yourself before supporting others, or some bullshit platitude like that.  

The lamp hanging between them only swung by centimeters, barely noticeable, but the dull yellow light would flicker from time to time, shining the emptiness and unforetold darkness in Kyungsoo’s eyes. It would only be caught by Chanyeol when the singer was distracted, perhaps dazed, and paid no attention to the growing silence between them. Chanyeol almost lost himself inside of those small constricted pupils, kind of venturing into a secret conversation that was not meant for him to meander. The situation changed back to normal when Kyungsoo’s smirk appeared again. “What’re you staring at?”

“Nothing.” Really. It was all Chanyeol could say without lying blatantly.

By the time they split and paid for the check, Kyungsoo kept that weird white balloon around him, even through the dinner. He thought that it would be left behind for the waiters or staff to deal with, but it obviously wasn’t the case here. Chanyeol wanted to ask but decided to keep his mouth shut since he found the little man adorable. They were waiting for an available taxi on the street to take Chanyeol home. Kyungsoo apparently wasn't too far from home, so he could walk back without worrying about having to commute.

“Here, give me your hand,” Kyungsoo suddenly commanded, which Chanyeol naturally obliged to the voice aroused his blood.

The silky red rose-colored fabric was tied into a stylish bow on Chanyeol’s pinky finger. He laughed at it at first, judging that it was silly for such a tall man to be grounded by a balloon. Was there a metaphor or joke that Kyungsoo was aiming for with this? Before Chanyeol could get a remark out, Kyungsoo placed his fingertip (specifically the distal phalanx. But it wasn’t like Chanyeol was absolutely engrossed in every detail that was concerned around Kyungsoo. Not at all.) on the hero’s lips , shutting him up momentarily.

“A present, more or less. Let’s go out again sometime soon,” Kyungsoo happily uttered, almost as if he was eager to see the tall man again, which also made the said tall man want to pick up Kyungsoo and spin him in wild ecstasy. Without waiting for a reply, Kyungsoo smiled one last time, patted Chanyeol on the back and left to be on his way home.

Stuck with a smile on his own face, Chanyeol kept the balloon all the way from the taxi ride home. He tipped and thanked the man for driving him at such a late hour, and he sighed while he walked into his apartment, locking the door, of course, plopping right into his single and unkempt bed. He neatly untied the bow to discover something written underneath the loops of the red thread that he didn’t notice before. A list of numbers broke by a couple of dashes that almost reminded him of a… person’s phone number.

Holy shit, it was a phone number!

And it wasn’t just anybody’s phone number.

It was most likely Kyungsoo’s!

But when did the singer put down his… oh, was it during the time he went into the bathroom? No matter, Chanyeol’s tired heart beat rapidly again and excitement flooded his blood. “If that wasn’t smooth, then I must be really rough around the edges,” Chanyeol stated to no one, gazing into the darkness of his ceiling with unbounded happiness.

 

* * *

 

Chanyeol watched TV out of boredom on uneventful nights, but he was bored of watching TV while also having nothing else important to do, so he was going with the latter of continuing to be deadpanned as he let his brain be fried in commercials and news. He and Kyungsoo have been texting for three weeks straight, gossiping and setting up hangout dates together. These days, where the hero stayed at home more than usual, was not of those adventure-filled hangouts. But it would have been one of those of days if the singer wasn't busy. Apparently, Kyungsoo was heading over to another province to talk to somebody about his career, so Chanyeol understood and supported the decision and would wait for the talented singer’s return.

“In breaking news,” a reporter’s voice caught Chanyeol’s attention, for once. “The secret identity of a superhero generally known as Rain was revealed three days ago. It happened accidentally when the hero used his powers in public to save the lives of the employees at a local McDonald’s after a malfunction with one of the machine caused an explosion in the kitchen.”

Ah, Chanyeol remembered seeing Rain in a mission once. His ranking was not as high in the hierarchy as the pyrokinetic, but it was not all that bad to be the 95th position. He was an excellent hero, for he was adequate at martial arts and notably impressive in critical-thinking situations that put his life at stake. All superhero traits that everyone else should be typically following as standard procedure. Hm. His identity was out now. One impulsive action while in bare-face could help the citizens in trouble in the short-term, but the fact that his identity was leaked made it far more dangerous in the long-term. It was the reason why heroes and villains were in sync of not using their powers in public without being in disguise or costume if they wanted to have their personal life to be secured.

This didn’t apply to the metahumans that were not aligned with any side of the extremes. You could say they were in between.

In some way... he supposed.

Perhaps those types were the ones that freely used their powers publically without too many drawbacks such as media exposure. How unfairly lucky for them. “Now we are getting reports from a private government-owned hospital for metahumans that Rain is in critical condition after getting attacked by numerous villains. We can only pray that he—”

Having heard enough, Chanyeol turned off the TV remorsefully, caving into his despair about his own secret identity. He sighed. He was Phoenix on the battlefield, but he was Chanyeol on the streets. The reality of being unveiled was a scary bitch that would make any metahuman cower in fear when it reveals its sharpened teeth. Just ‘cause they were the next step above humans did not necessarily mean that they were immune to the dangers of the world around them. Death, despair, hunger, torture and all related others were still real and established in this world. He sighed deeply. “I’m no different from all the other heroes. Afraid that our next move will be our last,” he mumbled in heavy thought.

The pessimistic attitude was throwing his emotions in a hot pot, boiling them, adding in salt and pepper. But a call from his work phone gave him an excuse to not supply his negativity with more thoughts. He looked at the baby cactus that he kept by the window sill in his room. He should water it soon. He needed to be careful because watering the soil too much would drown what he was trying to grow and the soil, too. Was he like that too? He looked at a body mirror he kept behind his closet door. Ruffling his faded reddish hair, becoming more brown nowadays, settling the large gas mask over his face, he promptly put on his lengthy black hooded trench coat. Safely adjusting his belt over his waist, he made sure he exchanged all of his clothes with the fireproof ones that his agency customarily provided.

He shuddered at the thought of the time he went into battle without his fire-resistant pants and accidentally burnt them to a crisp to reveal to his teammates and enemies, at the time, of his multi-heart designed boxer briefs. The battle ended in a literal firestorm of Chanyeol’s mortification. Suspended accordingly for his dangerous mistake and even had to pay for the damages and hospitalization of his teammates. Comedic but also fucked up as he saw it in retrospect.

“So edgy,” he said to himself, noticing all the black on his body on his reflection. “But I guess it does what it needs to do.” All these years of being a superhero, and he still had complaints regarding his disguise. Some people never learn…

Surreptitiously leaving his apartment, ensuring that not a single person had seen or noticed his presence as he wandered into shadows. He met at a rendezvous in the sewers with other assigned superheroes as they awaited for their ‘manager’ to appear to give the explicit details of what they were supposed to do. Sludge in the water flowed down the water tunnel. Grimy and green, it created a lot of lumps in the throat of the heroes that stared at it long enough. Chanyeol and the other heroes were up against a white brick wall, scooping out for anybody that could be their manager. No luck. Only the waves of dirty water smacking against each other in an audible clap. A rat or two were squeaking in the distance, echoing down the long narrow passageways. He didn't hold his breath to the repugnant smell since he was adjusted to this type of environment in past missions, but his teammates, who were apparently newbies, were too distracted of the scent that they didn’t realize the wall their backs were against suddenly flipped and dragged them over to the other side.

Secret entrances were an infamous favorite of Heroes Society. Something about trapdoors was very enticing to them. Chanyeol could say that it still surprised him how well-constructed these happened to be from time to time. An elderly lady, whose long hair was white as the snow that peppered the skies in winter, made her chilling presence known to the heroes in front of her. A stretched out black table was the only thing between her and Chanyeol and the other heroes. Behind her were the multiple computers set to surveillance a lot of the areas of importance, usually the ones directly related to the mission per se.

The lighting was oddly ominous to the point that someone would think twice before realizing that they were a meeting between heroes and not villains. The stoic face of the woman in charge reminded Chanyeol of Kyungsoo a bit, but he focused his mind on what was ahead. The old woman slid a manila folder across the table while Chanyeol inspected the material inside of it carefully. Compacted papers, neatly aligned and freshly printed by the warmth that lingered on them.

The granny in office clothing coughed away a lump before articulating the depths of their missions. “I’m your assigned task leader or manager. Your mission is to detain a rogue metahuman. His codename is Vlad. His powers are blood-related, so watch out when you make contact with him. Phoenix, these are your kindred for now. Try not to let them or yourself die. Additional information can be read inside of that folder. Any questions from you, baby chicks?”

She referenced in an overt manner to the unfamiliar superheroes. It was no way towards himself since Chanyeol was already in the business for a while now. The four new heroes shook their head as their feet were too nervous to move. They were stubbornly avoiding any possibly wrong responses in fear of being reprimanded for being idiotic. Chanyeol chuckled to this as it reminded him of his teenage years that he wasted trying to be perfect at being a hero. Only by making mistakes would these baby chicks learn to survive on its own. The chameleon didn’t always catch the cricket with the first flick of its tongue.

There was a voice distortion device equipped to his gas mask, which made it easy to talk to his teammates without worrying about being exposed. It was a strange thing, though. To trust his faith in his teammates yet not revealing his face or voice to them in fear of them leaking his identity to malicious people. Despite being good on the spectrum of justice, he could feel that this concept of trust was sketchy overall. “Let’s get to work,” Chanyeol clasped the manila folder to a close.

 

 

 

 

Manhunt—it was all Chanyeol could imagine what this mission meant as he traveled through the air in a private, expensive jet to get to their location, which was an isolated section of a forest. Where was it particularly located in the world? He didn’t know. He stopped trying to familiarize himself with the environment when the jet pierced through thousands of gray and black clouds. Entranced by the scenery, he felt he could let his hand out and pick one of the cotton candy fluff despite its disorienting color, but his realism would kick him in the face. Clouds were practically the same feeling as fog. There was nothing special or 'fluffy' about it. “This is your stop, kids. Have fun!” The manager yelled, pressing a button which opened a latch to the seats of all the heroes, forcing them to be dropped in the middle of the air.

Chanyeol blankly fell through the sky, hand reaching for the jet that soared away from them. It was like how baby birds would learn how to fly on their own from jumping off on the nest. The altitude was high, but he showed no fear underneath his mask. He could only wait for himself to, literally, hit the ground. Meanwhile, the rest of his team were screaming for their lives. “Children,” he muttered, slightly happy that they were still young in this new reality of being superheroes. They wouldn’t have to worry about when they hit the surface since their suits were supposed to built to endure sudden and heavy impacts. It generally made them durable.

Or they could use their powers to lighten their fall.

Whatever works, he guessed.

When Chanyeol hit the ground, he always did this peculiar pose where he landed like he was kneeling, his fist engraving into the dirt, and his head facing down. The Superman landing pose. Yeah, that one made him feel cool. It usually gave him the assumption that he was a real tradition hero like in the movies he used to watch. He wished he could say that his teammates behind him did the same, but they landed in a, well, in an awkward position.

“Holy fuck! I know these suits should be able to take a hit, but fucking goddamn,” A woman clad in a black and yellow armor like a knight mentioned. She picked up her sword that was dug into the ground after landing. Her codename was Bravery. Her power was simply superstrength. It could come in handy for various reasons. 

“You didn’t need to curse so much,” a guy in a simple green jumper and helmet said. His codename was Lime. Being able to manipulate energy flow was promising to Heroes Society, they would be able to train this guy to responsibly control his powers. However, Chanyeol read up that Lime was only on the tip of the iceberg with his powers. A lot to learn, Chanyeol would say. A lot to learn.

The last two heroes were twins. Both girls. Chanyeol studied their quiet posture and took note of creepy drama masks they were wearing. One with a happy smile and the other with a sad frown. Their tradition shrine clothing made it clear of their origin. Apparently on the document file that he read earlier that these two were Kagami and Kiri, whose powers pertained to creating illusions and fog. A handy duo if he could say so himself.

Thanks to the night, picking up heat signatures through Chanyeol’s infrared lens of his gas mask was easy. He could see in distances of the animals nearby and even humans that were not supposed to be in the area. But the agency was strict on manhunt-type missions, so he couldn’t prioritize seeing what humans were doing in this isolated forest. He could only embark further into the forest’s expansive woods. The target was last reported being near their location, so it was up to them to track Vlad from that point on.

An hour of searching led to nowhere. Rustling through bushes and passing by trees that were beginning to look familiar to one another, almost like they were mocking them for being lost. Lime was calm and collected. The twins remained quiet but studied their environment meticulously for clues. Bravery was loud in her approach, taking out her frustrations by punching a hole into young trees. Chanyeol couldn't help but chuckle to how unlikely his team were put together. Heroes Society had an interesting way to putting team comps together. His trailing shadow grew larger, creeping up to him like a monster. He ignored its presence because he only could focus on leading the team further into the forest in hopes of finding their target.

It wasn’t until another hour was used when Chanyeol unexpectedly found Vlad’s heat signature, weak and half-dead. He got closer to see a clearing where there were numerous dead bodies laid in peace. Vlad was against a boulder by an abandoned mine, and that was all he could put his mind to that the target was Vlad. That was all he had to care about. “We’re going to take you in, Vlad. No point in resisting now. You can rest easy,” Chanyeol stated, stepping over across the corpses, bending down to get to eye-level with the other man.

“I,” Vlad remained breathless, maintaining his focus to the stars above. Wet tears mixed with dried blood on his cheeks. His blond hair was soiled in the disgusting battle that took place here before. “I just wanted to live happily with my sister. She would have loved to be out here, stargazing with me.”

“Can you walk?” Chanyeol asked, ignoring the useless information that Vlad was fishing for sympathy. Although, his heartstrings were slightly triggered.

“No, I won’t make it out alive after we finish talking. You see, I was prepared to take my life and a few others once I get this far.”

Seeing that this guy was quite talkative, Chanyeol had no choice but to engage in conversation. His distorted voice stated: “And what exactly were you trying to do?”

“See all these dead bodies? Notice how all of them are male? They all are the reason she’s not alive anymore. Heroes or villains, it seemed that none of that prejudice between them mattered as long as they all hurt my sister.”

“...”

“She lived her best to smile each and every day. She and I bothered no one. We _were_ nice people, but we can’t say the same for everyone else.”

Skeptical to ask more information, but Chanyeol’s curiosity got the better of him. “W-what did these guys do?”

“That guy over there. He spread a rumor around my sister’s school before that she was a slut because she rejected him. And that guy over there is a fucking teacher. He was going to fail her in his class if she didn’t have sex with him! Fucking pig. This guy did…”

Chanyeol stopped listening. His heart was aching for all of the pain that Vlad’s sister had taken to keep striving in life. Actually, he _had_ to stop listening to half the speech that the blood-user was saying because it was overbearing, overwhelming him with emotions that were not his. He surveyed the area and saw how confused his teammates looked, but Chanyeol primarily focused on all the dead bodies of these scum that Vlad mentioned. All of the masks were removed, revealing the decently average faces that resembled ordinary citizens that Chanyeol would see in public. A truth, which he had forgotten, dawned on him at that moment—everyday people can be monsters, too. People like that are the most dangerous to encounter in the world. A vile abomination wearing mankind’s skin.

“Can you imagine waking up one morning from your bed one day after saying goodnight to your sister the night before, and seeing her body hanging in her room with a journal that hid all of her troubles? I could have helped. She could have gone to me. I recklessly came after all the guys that she described and killed them…”

“...” Stop. Chanyeol wanted it to stop. He really didn’t wish to be dragged forcefully into another person’s world, see their perspective in life if it wasn’t close to happy. It began to scare him how involved he was, and he needed a Xanax somewhere to calm his nerves. His own blood literally boiling inside of him as a flame came to sear his stomach acids. The little hairs on his arms and legs standing tall as his skin screamed at him to do something.

“...I realized that I could just let these scum live. I could let it all go, let my sister lay to rest, and move on. But I was engulfed in rage. I let my blood go bad. I already did what I regretfully did to these guys. I’m no better than them. I can’t go back. I, I just can’t go back. There’s nothing left for me in this world,” Vlad sorrowfully sobbed, wiping his tears on his tattered sleeves. The heavy bags on his eyes as his blue eyes complimented his waterworks. The moon reflected in his iris.

“It really doesn’t have to turn out this way,” Chanyeol weakly attempted to convince Vlad. He was beginning to give hope to the rogue fellow. “You—”

Snap… a snap of Vlad’s fingers was all it took to activate his powers to erupt his blood vessels inside of him. Without any sound, he sat contently as he gushed out the crimson red liquid out of his ears, eyes, mouth, and nose.  Chanyeol shut his eyes for a moment of silence. Vlad killed himself quietly as he gazed at the sky above him longingly. Chanyeol then coldly stared at the ground, thinking of the next course of action. The rest of his team remained frozen in shock at what happened. However, the truth was in front of him—things like this happened, sometimes too often for one’s comfort zone. He pressed his fingers over Vlad’s eyelids and closed them manually, hoping the best for the poor man in the afterlife. “Mission’s over. Vlad committed self-execution,” he reluctantly told his manager.

Were they all like that then? Encased inside a maze of life, turning and running with all their strength to find a path suitable for them to only be disappointed when they hit a dead end. How many dead ends would they meet before they give up?


	2. Darling, Would You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wild. I actually can keep up w/ updating this like I promised. Ama-Z-ing. But like anyways, I am still putting a lot of effort to write this story despite being stumped on a few parts here and there for future chapters. Thank you for the small few for giving this story a chance! I appreciate all unspoken support. I really do. Furthermore, I am already working on a non-metahuman/superpowers Chansoo fic as we speak as well. I love this ship too much. I really need to chill. I want to finish this or at least work on it here and there while getting my other fic published here soon. As a common theme between all the Chansoo fics I've written (2 so far lol) there's just angst and slow burns/build all around. I hate myself as much as I love myself.

Chanyeol met up with Kyungsoo at a park on a peaceful morning on Saturday. He was still shaken up by his encounter with Vlad, but the hero had to fortify his nerves to be steel rather than straw, hay, or brick. The last thing he needed was the wolf of anxiety and fear to blow his house down and devour him up. It could do that in another time when he wasn’t around Kyungsoo. The singer was his safe haven for now.

“What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” Kyungsoo spontaneously engaged Chanyeol into a conversation, rubbing his knuckles against the grassy dirt as they were lying earlier to tell what shape the clouds were making. 'Normal' activities as Chanyeol wanted to put it.

“Huh?” Chanyeol responded, too lost in his thoughts to figure out what was going on.

Kyungsoo was staring at a passing ice cream saleswoman. She was pushing a cart and hoping to earn money through the people at the park. It was getting to noon soon, and it wouldn’t be long before more people would begin to crave the sweet treat for themselves. She most certainly chose the right time to come.

Chanyeol noticed what Kyungsoo was staring at also, so he said, “I prefer something strong in taste. Coffee, dark chocolate, so on.”

“Hm, tough,” Kyungsoo muttered. “I like having something sweet on top before reaching the center of something surprising in contrast of taste. It keeps people like me wanting for more.” He explained, flapping his eyelashes at Chanyeol as if it was meant to seduce the hero. He tilted his head as if one side weighed more than the other, leaning too close for the pyrokinetic to not consciously and literally burn up in place.

Chanyeol only nervously nodded to agree, unexpectedly not as excited about the topic as he should be, so he retreated back into his thoughts. How many times has he’d seen where people, despite being metahumans, were not always as superficial as the information on their files made them? They were people regardless of superpower status, and they had their own lives that they were in charge of. They were the six-month pregnant woman trying to ensure her impending baby was financially secured. They were the office workers that hated every one of their coworkers but had to make a living. They were the kids running playfully on the street with laces of their leftover innocence on their face. There was so much depth to people that Chanyeol was starting to refuse to go on missions that targeted or questioned his mortality. Internally struggling to keep the mask on his face any longer. He couldn't go on torturing himself this way.

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo poked at Chanyeol’s side, relieving the other by the silly, calm gesture. A small breeze passing through their ears.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking,” Chanyeol badly smiled, trying to shove his problems under the growing bags under his eyes. “How was your talk about your career with that guy you met?”

“I denied his request. I had to compromise a lot of myself to be able to fit into his standards. I can always get another opportunity somewhere else. Or at least I’m staying positive about it.”

“Ah, that’s good for you, Soo-ya,” Chanyeol’s mood began to brighten, absorbing the good aura that flowed out of Kyungsoo. No use of being overly pessimistic about every single thing in life since it would only damage your mental health. Chanyeol needed this frankly. “Thank you.” He randomly uttered to Kyungsoo.

“For what?”

“Just reminding me to be happy.”

“Ah, okay?” Kyungsoo giggled, rubbing the hero’s back tenderly. “I’ll go get us some ice cream.”

As the man went to purchase the creamy desserts, Chanyeol wondered why his luck was boosting to the sky whenever he was around Kyungsoo. Getting to know the singer made everything in life seem great by default. And nothing was as cynical as he perceived it, not letting his realism ruin the simplicity of how certain things ebb and flow. Spending a little too much on ice cream and junk food was okay to do. Going to places known for a special item but only ordering other items than what they were known for was totally fine. Being captivated by Kyungsoo’s angelic voice was also something that didn’t need to be analyzed. Chanyeol could sit there and throw all his money if the singer ordered to do it. His attitude toward life was changing under his blindside as he happily spent his time, effort, devotion, and soul on investing himself with Kyungsoo. Like salt and sugar, there was a clear difference on who was who when tasted, but when superficially looked at, the difference seemed to smudged into one.

“I’m back!” Kyungsoo yelled, bringing forth an ice cream cone in each hand. “I only was able to get you regular chocolate while I got strawberry.”

Chanyeol didn’t even care for his taste buds. He graciously took the chocolate ice cream cone and licked at it as if it was the best flavor in the entire world. “Thanks, Soo-ya, it’s really great.”

“I’m glad then.”

“Me too,” Chanyeol cooed, controlling his powers from making an ice cream soup in seconds. The forest fire inside of him was steadily burning, but he let Kyungsoo’s soft voice transformed it into a flowing river.  

 

 

 

 

As one of the biggest changes in their relationship, Chanyeol allowed Kyungsoo to enter his most personal space: his apartment. It wasn’t because he was forced to in any way. It was funny enough that they never visited either one of their homes until now. In fact, he offered Kyungsoo to spend his time at Chanyeol’s apartment. It was an invitation; something that Chanyeol nearly never did for anyone. He held his heart back because it was no use in panicking over a simple crush. He wasn’t necessarily rusty in the love department, for the tall man knew what relationships were like. The hero dated a woman for a year before calling it a quits because she had dreams for herself that didn’t include him, and it was vice versa. Mutual respect so to say. He also dated a teammate of his long ago when he first started off his actual hero job. Being with a man as a love partner was a _different_ experience, but they also mutually broke up because the tie that kept them together was cut and lost. Regardless, Chanyeol found it blissful and could see himself dating another male afterward. Look where that led him now.

Yes, Chanyeol would admit in his mind that he liked Kyungsoo, and he could see himself dating Kyungsoo. He liked the way the singer sang so seductive and confident onstage. How a single bar sang by the noir could make Chanyeol lose all IQ points? He would probably never know. He also liked how Kyungsoo would wiggle his eyebrows when he was randomly bored and wanted to simply make Chanyeol smile. The action fried his circuits and ceased all functionality and set everything to ‘laugh’ for the combusting-hero.

Little by little, the worm would wiggle and chew its way through the red apple’s core and make a new home within it.

He already put away all his belongings that pertained to his superhero life into secret compartments in his bedroom. Fortunately, he made his living quarters a mundane one to counter his special hero life.

“Is this really how you live?” Kyungsoo peeked around, stepping carefully into bedroom as if the flooring was ice.

“What did you expect me to live like then?” Chanyeol fired back. It was frankly not _that_ messy, but there was a few shirts and pants here and there. The dishes in the sink happened to be stacked this time because he was not expecting guests to be coming over before. The opened windows everywhere was the only reason why the apartment kept a fresh scent. He remembered to change the bed sheets last week, so there was another accomplishment to add to his small ‘In-Your-Face-Kyungsoo’ list.  

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo bent down to pick up a shirt before promptly smelling it. “Ugh, do you know how to do laundry?”

“I’m usually busy working to be at home long enough.”

“Aigoo, what do I do? Are you those people that just buy more clothes to avoid cleaning them?”

“No. Of course, not. For your information, I know how to do laundry.”

“It don’t smell like it.”

“Listen to me. Don’t sass my lifestyle.”

“I didn’t even know _this_ can be considered a lifestyle,” Kyungsoo laughed hard, falling to the bed and clutching his stomach for needed air. The orange lighting from outside penetrated through his window sill and filtered Kyungsoo's face like a bad Instagram post with a fake-deep caption.

“That’s it. You’re not welcome anymore after today.”

“Okay, okay, okay, don’t get dramatic on me. I’ll stop,” Kyungsoo seriously said, giving a final chuckle, worming into the red striped blanket and making himself a small shell out of it. He poked his head out and made Chanyeol smile effortlessly by the silliness he displayed. “I’m a caterpillar.”

“Oh, please,” Chanyeol giggled again, rolling his eyes at this scenery. He fell down to cuddle against Kyungsoo. If time could only remain like this, then Chanyeol would promise to find a chronokinetic person and make this last forever.

“Did you know that in certain sections of Hawaii’s tropical life that there are _carnivorous_ caterpillars?” Kyungsoo bug-eyed the taller man.

“Um, no? Why do you even know that?” Chanyeol snaked his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist, pulling him deeper into his embrace, having the flesh of his neck make contact with Kyungsoo's forehead. In any way would this information be useful in the future, then Chanyeol would love to learn more, but he was sure that it was contrary to that. Chanyeol was sure of it.

“Because it’s interesting! I also happen to watch a lot nature documentaries.”

“Figures.”

“Evolution is beautiful in its natural way,” Kyungsoo murmured, breathing his words along Chanyeol’s neck, earning a shiver from the other man. “So will you eat me first or will I?” Kyungsoo manuevered himself upward to have his lips centimeters away from Chanyeol's. It was perfect for taking. Tempting the unspeakable. 

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows, unable to fathom as to what made Kyungsoo irresistible and questionable. He hesitated to move his lips forward, observing to see if the possibility of rejection was hidden in Kyungsoo’s movements. Deeming it safe, he pressed forward and attempted to close the gap before them until the shorter man pulled back and chuckled. “I’m just messing with you, Chanyeol-ssi.” 

Chanyeol was embarrassed but played it off horribly. “Yeah, me too.”

“We almost kissed there,” Kyungsoo carelessly said, unintentionally hurting Chanyeol’s feelings.

“Would you have let me kiss you, though?” Chanyeol shamelessly questioned, yearning with his eyes for a certain answer. No smiles. No shits or giggles. 

Kyungsoo received the message clearly and smiled, toothy grin and all, “I would actually. I just like teasing you, Park.”

Chanyeol released the zipper on his hesitation and freed every single thing he held back on. First, he scooted close to Kyungsoo on the bed, grabbing the back of the black-haired man’s neck, rubbing little circles on the soft peach skin. His mouth tinily opened, not knowing what to exactly say, if there was anything necessary to fathom in words, but Kyungsoo’s heart-shaped lips already bulldozed the distance between them.

Wow. Fuck. He was actually more brave than what Chanyeol previously assumed. Tasting something rather sweet lingering on the other’s palette. Still. It was love in the shape of lips. Love embodied as a human body part. Love slowly becoming Kyungsoo wholely.

Chanyeol smiled into the kiss and let his eyes slowly shut. It lasted for a few seconds before the taller man had to say something cliché to screw the moment. “So… what are we? The last thing I need is for me to misunderstand what we are doing with each other.”

Kyungsoo swayed his head and rocked to an invisible song in his head. “Anything you want us to be. Exclusive, open, friends with benefits, or nothing at all, you have the freedom to choose,” he pecked the other’s lips gently, burning another sugary memory into their minds, “I’ve been with many types of lovers before. I’m _quite_ open about what we _can_ be.”

Chanyeol loved the honesty, and in return, he wanted to throw his out as well, “Exclusive. Surely.”

“Sounds fair to me.”

“Now, shut up and kiss me.”

“Sounds promising, _boyfriend_.”

Chanyeol’s goosebumps thickened to the new word, symbolizing their new exclusive relationship with each other. Finished reading the contract, they signed where the fine print was with their lips and tongue. Milk and honey-filled sounds escape Kyungsoo’s mouth as Chanyeol scraped his spoon at the bottom of the bowl for more sugar. He would soon enough become addicted to who Kyungsoo was. Of course, he’d never regret his choice to be so hooked on someone because part of love was exploring the unknown together and learning about each other in a genuine manner.

 

 

 

 

“Never again,” Chanyeol groaned, pushing a small cart around while Kyungsoo looked through the produce aisle for potentially good vegetables to cook and fruits to keep around the apartment. Since Kyungsoo decided that the taller man didn’t get enough nutrition from what he normally ate, he became in charge of what Chanyeol was eating nowadays. And it was only a week after they declared their mutual desire to be in a relationship with each other!

“I’m never singing for you then,” Kyungsoo threatened, analyzing the hardness of a watermelon with both his hands and ears.

Chanyeol stopped pushing the shopping cart, thought hard about the statement, then responded, “Aish, okay. I give up. I’m trusting your cooking skills over mine then, Soo-yah.”

“Oh, please, as if consistent consumption of ramen is good for your health,” Kyungsoo argued while he put back the watermelon where it belonged and picked up another one instead. He placed his ear to it and slapped the roundness to hear it echo inside, as if it indicated how fresh it was in some magical way.

“You look like my mom,” Chanyeol laughed slightly as he leaned forwardly upon the handlebars of the cart. “Short, adorable, and serious about the freshness of fruits and vegetables.”

Kyungsoo sighed while he safely dropped the watermelon into the cart and proceeded to the next item on their shopping list on his phone. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Chanyeol smirked as he pushed forward lazily. He followed accordingly to Kyungsoo’s feathery footsteps until he arrived at the meat section and lovingly watched the short-sized singer order chopped pork bits and half a pound of giant shrimp. Whatever it was that Kyungsoo was going to cook, Chanyeol intuitively knew that it was going to taste savory and exquisite. Those cooking skills of Kyungsoo's were honed in when he was young. If not, then it meant the singer had another natural talent apart from singing.

Because of how well-refrigerated the area was, Kyungsoo was shivering underneath his thin black cardigan and white t-shirt. Obviously, being mischievous, Chanyeol would use that information later on to slander the poor boyfriend. A snake should always stay patient for the perfect opportunity to inject its venom into a prey. All Chanyeol had to do was play his cards right. But he still loved and cared for Kyungsoo, so he surveyed the area and saw how little attention the people were giving them, plus there were no cameras watching them from above, the hero lit a small wisp between his fingers and let the tiny flame make its way to Kyungsoo.

It stayed out of Kyungsoo’s line of sight, but it sneakily stuck onto the singer and kept him ultimately warm. “Is it me or did this place turn off its AC?” Kyungsoo concerningly looked at Chanyeol.

“I don’t know. They might. Let’s focus on our task, so, yeah?”

Kyungsoo agreed to the remark, not pressing the irrelevant matter, unlocking his phone to check the next item to buy for Chanyeol’s apartment. The intercom produced static before it spoke with a woman’s voice and asked for someone to clean up a mess spotted in aisle 10. Wheels barely rolling on all fours, squeaking to each cycle, as Chanyeol almost rammed the cart into Kyungsoo’s ass. Instead, the front bumper of the cart ran over the back of the singer’s shoes, which earned the hero a death glare and a ‘be careful next time’.

“Chanyeollie needs kisses,” the tall hero shamelessly sang, knowing that part of Kyungsoo’s pet peeve was people that referred to themselves in third person.

“How about you kiss this ass?” Kyungsoo spat, stopping by the aisle that contained boxes of uncooked spaghetti and pasta noodles. As if his luck went to shit, the pasta noodles he needed were on the top shelf and was clearly out of reach. He tiptoed and attempted to flick his fingers in hopes of knocking one of the boxes over. He ignored the bursts of laughter that came from his boyfriend because he was a good citizen and had the decency to not mock others for their, so to say, _shortcomings_.

Chanyeol used one hand and took one box of pasta noodles from the top shelf with ease while he also used his other hand to squeeze a firm feel at Kyungsoo’s ass. “I guess I can kiss your ass however you like it.” He passed the box over to his boyfriend, but not before he promptly placed a kiss on the other’s forehead.

“Okay, thank you,” Kyungsoo deadpanned, not letting the redness on his cheek catch on fire. He saved his embarrassment for later, for there were greater opportunities to snatch Chanyeol back for his unfair play.

Chanyeol could see the discomfort that lingered inside of that tiny body, so he wanted to be the remedy for it. “I like you a lot, my penguin singer. Tall or short, you’re still you and that’s all that matters.”

“Shut up, Clifford, the big red dog… but thank you.”

“In my defense, my hair isn’t even that red. It’s more brownish than red now.”

“Okay, your point?”

“That was my point.”

“You’re lucky I like you a lot also.”

“Well, ain’t I lucky then?”

And that was a lot of how their conversations usually went. One sassing the other. The playful teasing, pushing one away while the other was pulling. Especially after the tug-a-war game served its purpose, they would stop trying to get the other to cross the boundary and mutually create a space by that line together. A space where they could hold hands lightly while their kisses remained hard and passionate. Love wasn’t a game, but they made a game out of love to see which person could show affection better… though, they never could decide on a winner because they mutually were equal.

Perhaps after purchasing their wide selection of items, Chanyeol would realize the ache on his face when his smile was at its limit because anymore of the action would simply hurt. However, Kyungsoo was a shining ball of energy, charm, and grace, making it impossible to not smile around his presence. A little pain never killed him before, so Chanyeol endured it and smiled brightly at his boyfriend.

Upon reaching home, Kyungsoo barged through the moment Chanyeol unlocked the door. He laughed as he watched the little man carry all the groceries ( _I can help you carry those_ ) ( _No, don’t. I’m fine. Just relax for today_ ) to the kitchen with guilt and unspoken happiness. It never was this lively before in his home, but he could feel more welcomed at his home than ever. Pleasant sounds of chattering filling the air, a shove being lit on fire, flowing air that freshened the smell of the apartment, and shuffling of the feet across wooden floor made Chanyeol believe that he wasn’t cynical about other people’s actions.

“With the way you eat, how do you just not gain any weight?” Kyungsoo was cutting vegetables with scissors into the soup that he was preparing for the both of them. It was going to be something simple and light to consume for their stomachs before he presented the next course.

“I don’t know. Maybe I just burn calories and fat faster than the average person,” Chanyeol smirked to himself, knowing that he may or may not have revealed his powers aloud.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I wish I have your metabolism then.”

“Hm,” Chanyeol was in the living room, watching TV news as usual. Using a louder voice as he debated whether he should cut his toenails or not, “I’d rather be a successful singer than a normal skinny person.”

Kyungsoo sighed, quietly smiling to himself to think of what he got himself into. “You’re just fishing for compliments now. Stop it,” he stirred a wooden spoon in the pot and hoisted a spoonful of the soup to his plump lips to taste. A little bland but was getting there in flavor.

“Can’t. I love hearing your voice say nice stuff about me,” Chanyeol wandered carelessly into the kitchen to wrap his arms around the other man’s smaller waist.

“What if there isn’t anything left nice to say? Do you still accept it?”

Pressing his chapped lips to the peachy skin, Chanyeol left scratchy kisses down the nape for Kyungsoo to savor. “I do. It’ll hurt, of course, but I’ll accept it no matter what. If it’s coming from your voice, I know it won’t sound all that bad.”

If it could only stay like this, he wished to whatever god was watching them.

* * *

 

“Phoenix! Help me!” A female metahuman screamed as her whole foot was missing from her ankle, bleeding in pools of the dark blood. She winced and screamed harshly as she called for help from her teammates. Nothing prepared them for the ambush from the high-class villain that they were facing. If it was even considered one in the first place. 

Chanyeol sat with his back against a broken wall after the spiteful fighting that partaken here. The team he was assigned to were led to an abandoned factory since the owner went bankrupt and lost ownership of the property. It never was bought by anyone for years. Apparently, an insider leaked the information that this specific factory was used as a hideout for one of the vilest villains out there. They were sent to eliminate, which he thought was a soft way of saying to straight-up kill someone, the Wendigo.

He should have turned down the mission, gave it someone else to become their problem, and spend the day with Kyungsoo by his side. Now that he sparingly had time, he really questioned why he didn't just turn it down? Chanyeol had been on ‘Elimination’ and sometimes even ‘Assassination’ type missions. Chanyeol knew how gruesome, grotesque, and morbid the conditions he would put himself in would be, but he must have been getting soft lately to stagger to keep his eyes open to the sight of his teammates dying one by one. The unspoken hardships of being a hero were that if you mess up during these suspicious missions, you were good as dead. If Kyungsoo saw his pitiful state, what would he say? How about feel? Was there anything really appropriate to say in this situation? Chanyeol didn't know. He was bleeding out and losing consciousness.

Wendigo was a mutant-type. It, no gender was specified on the file for Wendigo, had the strength that boasted against most super strength-type heroes and speed that was up to par with agility-type heroes. It was not all beast since it was able to analyze what type of opponents it faced and used the environment to wear down its prey. The target was typically known for its predation of, particularly, superheroes and ordinary citizens. A group of criminals looking for quick and easy money would drug people in public, whether they had powers or not, and drive them to the abandoned factory to be hunted by Wendigo. Regardless, the people that entered the hunting grounds never made it alive.

Except one did. Which is also the reason why Chanyeol and a selected few of elite heroes were sent to dispose of Wendigo’s disgusting murdering spree. The person that escaped was remorsefully lucky to use the other people trapped there as bait while they ran for their life to the exit. They were traumatized by what they saw, but they collected a lot of their shattered pieces to tell Heroes Society what Wendigo was capable of since the file for it was not completed thoroughly or at all.

 _Why me?_ Chanyeol thought to himself sincerely, barely keeping his eyes open as darkness lingered at the corners of his vision. He could see a few feet away the woman that was known as Fortress was reduced to an emotionally unstable mess as she laid prey to the hulking shadow that loomed over her severely damaged body. An arm was slurped into the creature’s bony mouth, which must have come from a male hero that accompanied on the mission. Chanyeol was breathing sporadically, not knowing where the bleeding on his side was coming from. _Is this the end?_

“Take this!” A robust man’s voice came through like thunder, colliding a giant iron staff to Wendigo’s face, forcing the creature to fly far away from Fortress. It was Monkey King that saved their lives, but it wasn’t something they could rely on heavily since Monkey King was slashed deeply on his back.

Chanyeol had no recollection of how it all turned into a horror movie nightmare. They were only supposed to go in, find Wendigo, and eradicate the being out of its misery. It wasn’t supposed to be a cat-and-mouse game where they were the mice. In retrospect, Chanyeol proposed the first mistake was to split up individually to cover more ground. Second, which was the biggest fucking mistake that they all committed, was coming to rescue the teammate that was hurt or in trouble. Nothing but set traps for the mice to step on. Heads caught between the snapping bar. They were fools to think that this would have been easy to accomplish. How prideful to think that being elite heroes could equate to being immortal. Hubris was a wretched thing, really. Oh, how Chanyeol should have known better, but it was too late for him to reconcile with his intelligence.

Croaky and broken, the gas mask had broken lens that Chanyeol’s real eyes could be seen, despair and doom running free on his pupils, but Chanyeol still tried to speak, “M-monk—”

“I know, Phoenix. I know,” Monkey King came over, desperately carrying Fortress over his shoulder. He bent down as an attempt to pick up Chanyeol from the ground. He may have been injured himself, but his will to help his teammates and not leave them behind was strong enough to endure the pain he felt for himself. Monkey King promised them that they would fucking leave and have it become the government's problem. They far too underestimated the threat this time. Monkey King was sure as hell going to complain about it in the reports later on.

Fortress finally regained her collective conscious and wanted to right her wrong for her early tantrum, “I’ll teach this Wendigo who the fuck he, she, it, thing is fucking with.” Instantly, her intuition tingled and caused her to push Monkey King to the wall before he had a chance to retrieve Phoenix. She turned and instantly locked knuckles with Wendigo. The force of power colliding caused a small soundwave to erupt from their fist.

“Aaarrggggh!” Wendigo roared viciously and hungrily at Fortress, launching its elongated skull-face forward and chomping down onto her bare face.

Chanyeol witnessed with his lifeless eyes as her body stopped resisting Wendigo, slumping her arms and legs before being sucked into the mouth as a whole, like a snake consuming rats. Monkey King gripped tightly at his staff as anger boiled inside of him. Chanyeol began to faint in and out of his consciousness, catching small glimpses of Monkey King engaging combat with Wendigo valiantly but purposelessly. The pyrokinetic created a pool of agony inside of him, climbing up to his ears to whisper twisted truths. He had to help. He had to help Monkey King fight! His hand twitched, sparking up a small flame, but it died down. Useless... Useless. Useless. Pathetic. Despicable. Disgraceful. An eyesore. Trash. He should just die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die already! 

“No!” Chanyeol shouted, retaining his mind and vision of what was clearly in front of him. He saw Monkey King torn apart in half as Wendigo feasted upon the corpse. Bones crunched between its gnarly teeth. Flesh being chewed as if it were gum. Chanyeol’s eyes drowned in unaware tears as his last teammate was eaten by the menacing monster. Despair was walking behind all of them with a reaper's cloth. It was all over. “I’m… sorry, Monkey King.”

Wendigo hauled its heavy body tall, tilting its head like a hyena at Chanyeol’s mentally broken state, ready to pounce at any moment. It crawled at first towards the pyrokinetic, then it walked, then it crept closer, and it finally was within cheek distance with Chanyeol that its steamy, dreadful, rotting breath ghosted over Chanyeol’s mask. Too weak to conjure up enough energy to summon flames to repel the beast, Chanyeol accepted his reality and proposed that he could reincarnate as a normal human. Maybe a musician that could happily sing by Kyungsoo’s side. Smiling tearfully at his fate, closing his eyes, he stated his last words, “Ah, Kyungsoo, I wished I was there with you.”

 

 

 

 

When Chanyeol opened his eyes, he was in a hospital bed. White lights and wallpaper ubiquitous as flowers in a meadow. He carefully looked at all the tube that were attached to his bodies and didn’t freak out about any of it. In fact, he was more freaked out that he was _alive_. He remembered being stuck in the nightmare hunting grounds of Wendigo and being at death’s door. Why was he even resting peacefully on a hospital bed? What happened?

“Ah, you’re awake, Mr. Park.” A man in a doctor uniform opened the door and walked up to greet Chanyeol. “My name is Zhang Yixing. I am yo—”

“Wait,” Chanyeol had to interject, “aren’t you one of the world’s top medical professional for humans and metahumans?”

“Why, yes. Thank you for knowing who I am.”

Chanyeol could only smile and nod since he never sustained an injury severe enough to be treated by the one of the world’s best doctors. In actuality, his body was felt healed and rejuvenated really. “How long have I been out?”

Yixing was writing things on his clipboard before answering, “Approximately 12 hours. One hour spent out there and 11hours after you entered my hospital.”

“...and I’m all good now?” Chanyeol asked incredibly, unable to take in the reality that he was suddenly okay.

“Yes. I managed to stitch all your wounds despite how nasty they were.”

“Okay. What… about my—”

“You shouldn’t strain yourself asking too many questions. However, you are the only survivor of your team. Just to confirm that with you.”

“Okay.”

“Please rest well, Mr. Park. I’ll be back to do my rounds on you again later.”

“Thank you so much for everything,” Chanyeol deadpanned in his expression, but it was enough to get the doctor to leave Chanyeol alone with his thoughts. Sadly, this wasn’t the first near-death experience that he had. There were plenty of other times when he was a newbie trying to climb the ranks. He put himself in the face of death time after time, but it was different facing Wendigo. It genuinely felt like the end. It was too animalistic. Never had he been closer to being prey than his time spent at that wretched factory of hell.

All there was left to wonder about was _who_ saved him?

 

 

 

 

In an additional few hours, thanks to Mr. Zhang’s treatment and careful supervision, Chanyeol was able to be discharged early and settle back into his home. It would be covered by Heroes Society health insurance, which was an amazing benefit to have, and the pyrokinetic spent most of the cab ride thinking about how fortunate he was as an individual to be alive for another moment.

 

 

 

 

First, he visited a church and lit four candles for the fallen heroes that he was assigned with, hoping the tragedy that happened could be somewhat remedied by his prayer. “Whether there is a heaven or hell, I wish you all peace in the afterlife,” Chanyeol chanted to himself, knees on the surface, hands together while his eyes closed. He thanked all of his teammates for their sacrifice and also thanked them for their bravery and integrity. The hero whispered to himself that all other heroes should follow his team’s attitude towards work and even apply it to life in general. He wiped his dry tears and opened his eyes again, feeling anew and at peace with himself.

 

 

 

 

He entered his home without having to lock his door. Heading straight to the couch, he plopped upon it and thought how beyond comfortable it was. Purchasing this couch was a great investment. The harshness of his past clawed at him, scratching the walls of his mind, leaving behind trails of regret and despair in its wake.

_Save me, Phoenix!_

_I need your help, Phoenix!_

_Phoenix!_

Chanyeol casually walked up to his front door and locked it, blankly staring at the metallic object as if it were important.

_Phoenix! Help me!_

He wasn’t supposed to be a rookie in this field anymore. He already bloomed and did his part to get this far into his career. Actually. Was it even considered a career? His flames were meant to protect those that stray into darkness find a way back to the light, but it seemed his fire was nothing but a wisp waiting to be blown out by a passing breeze. His flames were useless. His flames were pathetic. His flames were… nothing.

He had remembered the factory when everyone first split up. The call to their communicators that one of them had been hurt and had told their location. He was the first one to rush to reach their comrade’s side since he was the closest to the coordinates. But Wendigo already ate up his teammate when he got there. In response to the scene, Chanyeol had burst the beast down with his fire, manipulating the fire to form a tight sphere around Wendigo to contain the monster until the rest of his team came. Then this was where things went further downhill. Wendigo had used its brute strength to expel the fire and practically blinked to Chanyeol’s face in a second, then it choke slammed him against a wall that easily broke to the power that Wendigo displayed.

Its acute nails dove straight into his descending colon, forcing out a heavy agonizing groan from the hero. It dug, almost like it was searching for something inside of him, and pulled out the intestine and tasted a piece to its satisfaction before Fortress came to pound the living shit out of Wendigo. Chanyeol grimaced at his photographic memory as it replied the scene of Fortress losing steadily to Wendigo’s strength. How helpless he was with his back resting quietly against the wall. He only bled and bled while he watched the fight break out.

Chanyeol moved away from the door, shivering to the idea that his body was violated in a way too disturbing for him to describe. He ran to the bathroom and puked the unwanted feeling in his stomach out. Washing it down with clear water, he looked into his reflection and saw how bad the bags on his eyes were. Sleep sounded good, anyway.

He undressed his shirt and looked at his body thoroughly in the mirror. Oddly, his body was fixed and had no stitches. Dr. Zhang did say he stitched him up. But where was it?

He put the matter to rest for his own good. Once he properly slept, he could bring the question up again as much as he wants, similar to how multiple college students in the same class could ask the same question and still not get the answer the teacher replies with. Lights out.

 

* * *

 

Chanyeol was waiting in the same booth for the show to start. He needed to see Kyungsoo sing to relieve the stress that was piling on his back. Thirty minutes until showtime apparently. He sat patiently until the spotlight shined upon his boyfriend.

“Phoenix?” A guy with faded ash brown hair approached Chanyeol, taking the empty seat across from the pyrokinetic. “I’m the hero that saved you in that Wendigo fight!”

Chanyeol’s eyebrows lifted as his eyes widened in fear and shock. He quickly scanned the room to see who could potentially be spying on them, but it seemed everyone was busy in their own business. He leaned in to whisper to stranger, sparks of fire threatening to spit out from the back of his throat, “I don’t know the hell you are, but you better shut up and enjoy the show. I’ll handle you outside later.”

“No need, just search Sun in the Heroes Society ranking. I’m not here to out you or anything. Also my name, real name by the way, is Byun Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol didn’t have to search the codename to realize that he was talking to the _fourth_ ranking hero of Heroes Society. This was a serious top-tier specialist! “Oh my, oh my, oh my. My name is Park Chanyeol! I can’t believe I’m talking to such a hero as yourself.” He stumbled at first to ask details on how the fight with the Wendigo went. “I don’t understand why the Wendigo was such an insane fight.”

Baekhyun chuckled, possibly close to snickering, and he looked Chanyeol sincerely in the iris of his eyes and said, “I’m flattered. Really. But your team wasn’t informed that Wendigo was an evolving adaptive-mutant type. It was constantly looking to outplay all of you. Without surprise attacks, you all would have been dead sooner.”

“How do you know that?”

“That person that escaped before leaked more information on what they noticed about Wendigo as your team was already dispatched to its hunting grounds. Long story short, I came in on time before it could devour you and eradicated it with my light. Left nothing behind for it to adapt to. Well, besides nothingness and darkness.”

“Unbelievable,” Chanyeol said, shaking his head. He was baffled at what immense power Baekhyun held to simply erase someone’s presence as he wished.

Baekhyun ordered himself a glass of water, seeing no harm to relax into his seat. The lights dimmed down while another set of lights shined beautifully on the center stage. A very familiar man came out and bowed respectfully to all of the audience. D.O. smiled politely as the cheering and whistling completely filled the room. “How are all of you?” D.O. said, pulling the microphone close to his lush lips.

“Good!” The easiest understood word that the singer could understand through the crowd’s roaring.

“I am D.O., if you already didn’t know, and welcome to Exo’luXion! I hope everybody’s enjoying themselves tonight. I’ll start it off with something small,” D.O. tapped his fancy shoes against hardwood, “this is Unforgettable by Nat King Cole.”

Despite all the English songs that Kyungsoo fluently covered, Chanyeol understood what all of it meant. He sat in obedience to his boyfriend’s singing, living in the pure ecstasy of the moment, drooling for a taste of the words that spill out of the singer’s hearty mouth.

“He’s an actual good vocalist,” Baekhyun whispered over to Chanyeol, reminding the Pyrokinetic that he wasn’t alone in the booth. “Imagine dating someone like that.”

“Already beat you to it,” Chanyeol smug look on his face expressed all the joy in his statement.

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun hung around Chanyeol more than Chanyeol thought he would stay for. A powerful hero such as Baekhyun sure had a lot of free time to kill. The pyrokinetic supposed that he could pass the time with his new friend since Kyungsoo texted him to go home without him. Apparently, the singer had something planned after the gig, which Chanyeol could empathize with and gave the necessary freedom to his lover without a complaint. He and Baekhyun went to a high-class restaurant since it was the light-user’s idea to go to one. Something about ‘treating yourself once in a while is good for your mental health’.

A common theme between all these restaurants were that the price was excessive while the portions were less than average. It baffled him to think that people could get filled on these type of meals. Chanyeol wanted to pay for the whole meal, but Baekhyun proposed that he would pay for the next time they go out together, which hyped Chanyeol easily for the potential to getting close to someone like Baekhyun. He needed to work on his networking, anyway.

“As I was saying, Chanyeollie,” Baekhyun comfortably chirped, brightly showcasing his less-than-serious personality, playful, even, towards the pyrokinetic. “It’s the sad reality of a hero in this field. We’re not that different from non-metahumans; we can die at any waking moment, too. We have to remind ourselves of that sometimes.”

Despite how depressing it was to think that way, Chanyeol could see how other superheroes would neglect their mortality since the concept of having powers would somehow change how long they could live on this earth, confusing the lines of being invincible and being an imbecile. “How do you not feel remorse for losing your fellow teammates, messing up, or almost losing your own life?”

Baekhyun pondered for an appropriate response, putting down his metallic spoon and fork on the dining plate in front of him. “You learn from all of it, really. You learn what you can do to make sure it won’t happen again. Don’t dwell too long on the past. Work diligently on the present. Prepare for the unpredictable future.”

It all made sense. It honestly did. It didn't even sound like a platitude to him. Chanyeol put up a grin that he wasn’t able to wholeheartedly do unless Kyungsoo was around. He locked the motivational wisdom inside of his library-mind and would apply it on future missions. However, there was still one question that haunted the brown-haired hero. “How do you deal with Assassination missions and Elimination missions? My morals get questioned each time I’m assigned to those.”

“You use your best judgment to decide whether you can take the mission on or not. It won’t hurt the organization to see you reject it. They can be understanding if you give them a chance. Personally, I read in detail about the target to see if they deserve to be killed or not. I do a lot of background checks also. It would suck to know I killed an entirely good person.”

“I see,” Chanyeol seemed to grasp the concept. It still irked him about how Baekhyun could nonchalantly cast lives away by what information he gathered on them. Chanyeol wanted to believe deep inside of him that not all villains were evil, and they deserved a chance to redeem themselves. Not to be placed on death sentence. Heroes Society was doing its best to maintain order in the world, but it certainly wasn’t perfect. It had a lot of shady ulteriors that caused Chanyeol to think twice about following out an order. If one did not take a step back to look at the stains on their hands, how can they be sure if they were always clean?

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Park. Let’s meet again over tea or coffee.”

“Same, man.” 

 

 

 

 

When Chanyeol made it back to his apartment, he was gently surprised by the note on the handle. He read aloud, “Let’s make harmonies together in bed. Love… D.O.”

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to tell Kyungsoo that he kept a spare key underneath the welcome mat. He honestly wouldn’t mind plainly giving the singer the extra key if it meant welcome surprises like this. Impatiently unlocking the door, he entered inside to find the place darkened.

He first locked the door, then he crept through the hallway and into his bedroom to notice nobody there. He turned on the light to test for a reaction anywhere. Silence. Hmm. He turned on the kitchen light. No one in the living room also. Nothing made sense. “Okay, where you hiding, Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol loudly stated, hoping to get a noise somewhere in his home other than the crickets outside.

The door unlocked itself, scaring Chanyeol, putting him high on his defenses, causing his eyes to turn blood red as his powers were ready to be explode the doorway. Once he saw a familiar whiff of black hair, he expelled the growing flames on his body and looked innocently at Kyungsoo enter the apartment. “Hey, Soo-yah.”

“Oh, you’re finally back. I was out getting snacks for myself. I got tired waiting for you.” Kyungsoo shook the white bag full of junk food, confirming that he did go out in his story.

“Did you really wait long?”

“Eh, here and there. I’m not always patient, honestly.”

“Wow, so I guess we aren’t going make harmonies in my bed?”

“That chance went out the window long ago.”

“Wow.”

“I said the same thing after an hour past. How about we cuddle and watch TV and eat snacks instead?”

“I’ll take up any offer as long as I get to spend time with you, Kyungsoo-yah.”

“Disgustingly sweet,” Kyungsoo laughed jokingly, appropriately taking his shoes off and making his way towards the couch.

He laid himself out like a map, relaxing as they caught the rerun of a drama they were keeping up with. Eventually, Kyungsoo grew bored, turning around to his boyfriend’s toned body behind him, stuffing his face into the extremely warm and safe chest. He traced his fingers down Chanyeol’s side, but before his fingers would caress more of the other’s skin, Chanyeol snatched Kyungsoo’s hand by the fingers and nearly crushed it. “Ow! Chanyeol, you’re hurting me,” Kyungsoo struggled to get his hand freed.

Chanyeol realized the pain he suddenly put on his precious boyfriend, releasing his grip with deep remorse. “I’m so… sorry. I di-didn’t know what came over.” Something triggered his instincts, his memories back to that time he was cornered by Wendigo. Despite knowing it was Kyungsoo’s soft and harmless fingers, his body was paralyzed to the touch and freaked out naturally. The general area where his descending colon was a suddenly a danger zone. Unbelievably, well, not necessarily, Chanyeol's body was traumatized.

Kyungsoo sensed there was something troubling the brown-haired boyfriend, so he simply sighed and put what was necessary for the past. “Hey, I’m okay now. You did nothing wrong. You just, uh, scared me a little.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. You can tell me what’s wrong when you are ready to. Let’s just relax together,” Kyungsoo promised, hesitantly poking his nails at Chanyeol’s chest, unknowingly able to know that it was safe to make physical contact there. He pressed his face into the nape of Chanyeol’s neck and nuzzled homely. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe. Out. He soon went to sleep due to a long day.

“Thank you for understanding,” Chanyeol planted a forehead kiss, cuddling close to his short singer, loving every second of proximity he could get, reopening his heart to what was considered safe to him. He didn’t know how long it would take for himself to recover, but it was a steady wide road that he was going to take nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be kind in comments. Be constructive. Be critical. But don't be an asshole about it. There's a difference. I honestly could write fic prompts (I like) that people recommend for me to do for this ship specifically, but I don't think my writing style is anyone's favorite xD Either way, my inbox is always open. From my tumblr (whoknewzeus.tumblr.com) to here.


	3. Set the Stage--Collide the Worlds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I. Still. Am. Updating. This. On. Time. I honestly feel so accomplished, guys. I don't usually keep my promises for updates xD but oh well, I'm doing a good job so far. Please enjoy the chapter. Sex is imminent here. Just saying now. A lot of development made as well.

Remembering Baekhyun’s advice, Chanyeol estranged from missions such as Assassination or Elimination. Thankfully, his mentality was rebuilding properly nowadays.

Chanyeol patiently waited on the sandy ground, pouring the scratchy sand over more sand with his gloved hands. There was a helicopter landed and not ready for a flight for the past thirty minutes. His task this time was a rescue mission, but he was in charge of protecting the getaway vehicle.

The rest of his teammates were inside trying to do the actual rescuing.

Exciting for Phoenix. Fun times. Sigh.

He wanted to be inside, too, but he supposed it would be devastating to be stranded in the middle of a desert while the weather was too scorching. Chanyeol was in charge of an important job, too. Or he wanted to believe he was.

His eyes peeked back and forth at the secret entrance, which was 35 feet away (but Chanyeol in all his stars wouldn’t be measuring his environment out of boredom. Surely.), that led to an underground base where, surprise to nobody, the person of importance to him and H.S. was being held captive at. “Why don’t they assign superhero bodyguards for these so called genius scientists?” Chanyeol complained to himself, but it was a realistic question because it was tiresome to pass the baton to run in endless circles. Kidnapped a recognizable figure in the science community. Retrieved them back. Have someone else in the same community kidnapped? Retrieved that person back as well. 

To think that Heroes Society would have planned this all out already.

But afraid not...

The designated pilot of the heli sat in the leather chair, minding their own business as Chanyeol stayed outside under the frowning sun. It didn’t help that he wore nothing but black with a concealing gas mask, so his long body was thoroughly cooking inside. Ironically enough.

Was it possible to hate being a superhero? Because he was halfway sure that he did.

No water.

No snacks to munch on.

What kind of treatment was this? A shitty one. That’s right.

Through his complaints, the corner of his eyes caught the iron latch door open, and it revealed a bulky man in a white tank top and blue jeans come out. “Well, hello, sir,” Chanyeol stood up from the ground, entertaining himself with the newcomer.

In one hand, the mysterious man held a black suitcase that concerned Chanyeol. Something was telling his senses that something was wrong about it. The hunch he held was confirmed when a small rocket came flying out of the suitcase towards the helicopter. “Wow, wow, wow,” Chanyeol quickly put up his index and middle finger as a gun aimed at the projectile, he squinted his eyes before he accurately fired a high-temperature energy beam at the rock, slicing it in half, cueing the explosion that didn't harm the helicopter. He laughed as some debris fell feather-like to the ground. Protecting the helicopter? Easy.

It was great to have a fast reaction time. Dry air quietly dusted the environment. Suddenly, Chanyeol received a transmission in his communicator in his ear. A little radio static before a clear message was heard. “Ya! Phoenix. This is Scorpion. We’re almost done rescuing the VIP, but they seem interested in trying to get rid of our ride home. Take care of them, yeah? I love you!” The lightning metahuman chirped at the end.

“Aish, why are you like this? So greasy,” Chanyeol kicked dust into the air, ignoring the enemy ahead of him. A moment of awkward silence enveloped between him and the hulking man across. He kind of found it funny if a tumbleweed spontaneously decided to roll through the middle of the tension-filled field. But then again, it was not a time to jest. There was always a time and place for that, and this was not supposed to be one of them.

The suitcase man pressed a secondary button on the said suitcase, which made the suitcase mechanically transform into a steady war hammer. It was cool to see, making Chanyeol wish he had something as impressive as that in his hands, but perhaps it was not a wise idea to lose concentration on protecting the helicopter. In preparation for close combat, he bared his arms in flames to create a gauntlet-look on him.

First mistake: assuming that the enemy wasn’t a metahuman. The hammer man threw seeds onto the harsh ground and manipulated it to grow rapidly and gigantically. Its brown roots touched the sky and surprised Chanyeol that he had to deal with a new blooming burden. The pilot began to frantically start the heli, blades spinning too slowly to lift off.

“Aw, shit,” Chanyeol commented, running into the helicopter while glancing back at the giant shadow that was cast over him. It was a plant-based metahuman. Fortunately, his fire was a counter to it. The aerial vehicle took off into the air, trying to spin around the area in case it needed to pick up the rescue squad. All Chanyeol had to think of was a way to fend off the roots that were swinging around in sluggish yet violent motions. He could eliminate the biotic matter if he could reach the tip of the root and set it on fire. Yes. That can actually work. “Take me higher! I have an idea!”

“Roger,” the pilot obliged.

 

 

 

 

It was funny to Chanyeol on the ride back to a designated headquarters was that he seemed pretty okay in comparison to how worn down and battered his teammates looked. He looked at Scorpion, who casually took off his mask to reveal his smooth complexion drenched in beads of sweat. Surprising the pyrokinetic by his actions, the lightning metahuman greeted Chanyeol kindly, “My name is Kim Jongdae. I heard about you from Baekhyun.”

“Ah, friends of his, nice,” Chanyeol also took the chance to remove his gas mask, breathing in the good, cool air for once. “I’m sure you guys are good people if Baekhyun-hyung trusts you bunch.”

“Snowflake, I won’t do your greetings for you, so you better introduce yourself,” Jongdae tried to engage his fellow teammate.

“Y-yes,” a shy skinny man with lilac hair was seated next to Jongdae. He held his hand out in front of Chanyeol timidly, which was adorable, “I’m Kim Minseok.”

“Nice to meet you two,” Chanyeol gratefully took the hand and shook it. He looked to the other two members that didn’t introduce themselves, but they seemed less interested in the pyrokinetic than he was into them.

“Those two troublemakers are Sehun and Jongin. Feel free to use those names instead over their codenames,” Jongdae intervened, shrugging at the unwelcoming attitudes his friends were making. “We’re all associated with Baekhyun.”

“Awesome,” Chanyeol smiled happily, knowing that his networking tactic was finally showing fruit for his labor.

“We’re all in a squad together, well, not with Baekhyun since his ranking doesn’t allow him to collaborate with lower statuses. Unfair, we know. But you’re technically within our reach, so we’re thinking of inviting you to join us, Park Chanyeol!”

“Uh, thanks,” Chanyeol awkwardly stated, contemplating on the invitation as if they asked him what college he was going to attend after high school. “It would make missions better to be paired with people I know. I suppose we can try it out for the being?”

“Great!”

An unexpected turn of events, but Chanyeol supposed that he didn't precisely mind teaming up with an actual squad. As stated before, it could be beneficial to have consistency with partners, which Chanyeol barely got since he went solo. The idea brought new hope for him for the future. 

 

* * *

 

Chanyeol already spent two months dating Kyungsoo peacefully without too much conflict. However, they would only argue over small things, which they would never blow up out of proportion because they compromised and communicated with each other excellently, such as whose turn it was to do laundry or cook dinner.

The pyrokinetic admitted that he wished he retired as a hero sooner since he wanted to put his devotion into making Kyungsoo happy. The money he earned could be used effectively instead of collecting dust and cobwebs in his secured bank account. A private island to relax their worn backs sounded luxurious and promising. It should be typed it down in his notes app to keep a record of it. It would be labeled under ‘List of Possible Futures with Kyungsoo’.

Yeah. He was a dork at times, but he was a dork with a big heart, and that was all that mattered to him.

It was strange to think that he only met his new metahuman friends last month. Missions were accomplished in smooth and efficient manners because he joined the established squad with Jongdae, Minseok, Sehun, and Jongin. He’d even went out to drink with them two weeks ago to celebrate a successful yet treacherous mission. "Come on, Yeollie!" Minseok had called out with his best interpretation of a heartbroken puppy, which was always a weakness of Chanyeol's that he wished he didn't have.

He learned a little something about each member personally, and he wished he had met them sooner because they all synchronized well on the battlefield together. Jongdae was perfect for paralyzing sporadic and quick moving targets while Minseok literally froze things in place. Also, a perfect counter to Chanyeol if he ever happened to lose control of his fire powers. Sehun could create plenty of diversions or put a spin on the frontlines with his wind powers as for Jongin, he could get them in and out of anywhere at any time because of his teleportation. A handy and practically power if you asked the pyrokinetic. Chanyeol would sometimes joke that they were the A-Team, but he would get admonished for his lighthearted joke.  

He was cuddling with Kyungsoo on the couch since the singer practically lived inside of Chanyeol’s apartment. He had the spare clothes, toothbrushes, mugs, pillows, and blankets for Kyungsoo’s ‘spontaneous’ sleepovers that happened five straight days out of the week. He learned to flinch less and accept D.O. touching his sides again after the incident with Wendigo left a mental scar on him. He coped better, especially since he was visiting a therapist at the hospital where Dr. Zhang worked at. He appreciated the love and support he was receiving from everyone, and he wondered how he got to meet such amazing people to actually stay in his life. One thing to appreciate for half his success of networking: Sun. 

Being connected with Baekhyun had a lot of perks, something that Chanyeol hated to admit publically since it seemed like he was riding on Sun’s glory.

No shame for friends that help other friends out, right? 

Life was really cutting itself a big slice of goodness for Chanyeol. His hero life on the rise again, and his personal life in control and loved. Nothing was going to go wrong.

Once again, Kyungsoo was always full of surprises for the tall hero. Out of the blue, the singer brought up the topic of metahuman status between them. A cute cuddling session soon became a heated debate.

“I don’t know why it matters to our relationship if we have superpowers or not,” Chanyeol argued, running his lanky fingers through his ruffled and unkempt locks. He sat on the couch alone while Kyungsoo paced back and forth in front of the coffee table. It was a nervous habit that Kyungsoo did as Chanyeol made that observation the first time they had a fight. This conversation was loaded with too many bullets for each other’s comfort. Shot after shot, all they had to do was reload and begin the firing again.

“Because it does matter! We’ve been dating a little over two months, and if this is something serious, we have to be completely honest with each other,” Kyungsoo commented, shooting a bullet into Chanyeol first, trying to get Chanyeol to see his perspective. Kyungsoo's saddened eyes pierced through Chanyeol as he began talking again, “You think I’m stupid when you come home battered as if you passed by a violent gang and pissed them off? You think I don’t worry to death about you when I see you in the bathroom at two in the morning trying to apply ointment and water to a slash wound on your back? I’m really not that oblivious.”

“So what? I come home with bruises and cuts. They can come from anywhere,” Chanyeol hitched, uselessly trying to hide his identity, burning up inside out of fear. He almost left charred marks on where his hands were on the couch, but he caught himself before he could cause another uproar.

This was their relationship at stake. Their statuses could crumble their working beautiful foundation. Obviously, to Chanyeol, he wanted to save the hassle of the superpower talk and silently keep the borderline that separated their hidden personas apart.  

“Then _where_ are they coming from specifically?”

“Uh,” Chanyeol stammered, caught, like a fish in a net.

“Don’t hesitate to answer, Chanyeol.”

“Okay!” He yelled, scaring Kyungsoo by his thunderous voice. The regret immediately painting itself on Chanyeol’s face as he realized he should never again raise his voice at his lover. Cooling himself down by breathing gently, he spoke again, “Okay. I’m pyrokinetic. My codename is Phoniex. And… I’m a superhero. There.”

“Oh, dear God,” Kyungsoo covered his mouth as he dumbly gazed at the flooring once he stopped pacing. It wasn't like Chanyeol told him that the world ended. Remaining still, the singer asked cautiously, “Chanyeol-ya?”

“Yes? What?”

“I’m a supervillain,” Kyungsoo quietly let his lips shut afterward, giving the dagger-filled words impact Chanyeol for a moment.

“Oh, dear God,” Chanyeol comically mimicked the same reaction as his boyfriend, but the seriousness of the confrontation was real.

They should have thought this out more. “We should have thought this out more,” Kyungsoo said, removing his hadns from his face and wide-eyeing Chanyeol.

“You think?”

Losing Kyungsoo's patience, the singer retorted, “Don’t sass me now, Park.”

Chanyeol had to be blind to not notice the distress on Kyungsoo’s face. The real worry locking itself in the other’s eyes. All he could do was stand up from the couch, make his way over to his boyfriend, and embrace him lovingly. Cooing into the other’s ear, having the confidence in himself to mitigate the nail in their relationship, “Okay, so you’re a villain. I’m a hero. We still love each other, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s all that counts,” Chanyeol assured the shorter man, supplying Kyungsoo with neck kisses, tying his hands around Kyungsoo’s waist, “That’s all that matters to us.”

“If it makes you feel better, I was already in the process of retiring,” Kyungsoo swayed their bodies, laughing as he felt familiar lips slide down the shell of his ear. With his lover so close, it was impossible to not inhale Chanyeol’s natural scent: earthy but sweet, enticing to Kyungsoo’s specific liking.

“Wow, already?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing this since I was young. I’m already tired of this life. I just want to live normally.”

“Wait, what’s your powers? And codename? Positioning?” Chanyeol baffled at the missing information to understand Kyungsoo’s story.

“My name is Do Kyungsoo. I know, my stage name happens to be D.O. But nobody personal really knows my name, so it doesn’t matter. I was given the name _Siren_.”

“I’m so sorry for interrupting,” Chanyeol sheepishly smiled at his stressed-filled boyfriend. “But you mean, you’re _the_ Siren? One of the most wanted villains out there currently?”

“Uh, yeah?” It was Kyungsoo’s turn to slyly smile.

“Oh my, sound-manipulation,” Chanyeol connected the dots in his heads, tipping off the idea that his boyfriend was badass.

“I really haven’t been using it when I’m singing onstage, though. That’s my pure voice entertaining the guests,” Kyungsoo justified himself, crossing his fingers as if it would exempt him from doubt.

“What’s your ranking in comparison to the other villains?” Chanyeol held a pokerface.

“Let’s not get into that, yeah?” Kyungsoo tried to shove the subject away, playing coy with their bodies. A stern look from Chanyeol broke the defenses that the singer was trying to put up poorly. Defeated, he was surrendering to his boyfriend, he first sighed. “12th. Happy?”

“12th!? That’s pretty damn high,” Chanyeol sat down on the couch again, trying to fathom how he was dating a potentially dangerous villain and still be alive. If he wasn’t really loved by Kyungsoo, he was sure he could have been dead a long time ago. After realizing that, the sunny smile came back on his face as he approached Kyungsoo again, “Awww, you love me! You really do. I love you, too, baby.”

“You know it.”

“I’m so touched, Kyungsoo-ya, I really am!” Chanyeol was becoming overbearingly sweet, but it wasn’t like the singer wasn’t adjusted to this sensitive but lovable person. He was close to kissing the other’s lips before something came up in his unkempt head. “Can you prove to me that you have powers, though?”

“Why am I being interrogated?” Kyungsoo stoically argued.

“Fine. I’ll let it go, but just know,” Chanyeol opened his palm and showed a small blue wisp in his hand.

“So that’s how we’re going to play,” Kyungsoo nodded, feeling a little devilish as to what he could do. He pushed away Chanyeol as he inhaled a good breath for himself. “You’re giving me permission to show my powers?

“Yup.”

“May I use you as an example?”

“Uh, will you hurt me, or will it hurt in any way?”

“No. I would never.”

“Okay. It sounds fair.”

“Perfect, remember I love you, Chanyeol-ya.”

“I—” Chanyeol’s vocal chords stopped in place. His eyes widening, baffled at what was going on. He couldn’t force his sound out. It was being controlled with ease, and all he could do was stare worriedly at Kyungsoo temporarily. Well, at least it didn’t hurt as promised.

“Hush,” Kyungsoo sweetly ghosted his voice in front of Chanyeol, knowing how effective his powers were. “First, you kneel.”

Chanyeol kneeled. Compelled by how his body followed orders like a trained dog.

“Second, you close your mouth.”

His mouth shut like a vault encasing all of the world’s money inside. This was bizarre. Sound-manipulation could be useless if not practiced thoroughly and diligently, but Kyungsoo almost was a master at what he was doing.

“You want to hear what true silence is like?” Kyungsoo leveled his eyes to meet Chanyeol’s. “It sounds like this.” All ambient noises in the background were muted. Nothing. Nothing at all heard. Not his heartbeat. Not the noises outside his window. Not the refrigerator running. Not even the floor creaking. It was absolute silence.

In nothingness, a minute was forever. Two seconds felt like ten minutes, and 15 seconds felt like an hour. Insanity trying to force its way on the hero's face, Chanyeol firmly believed that his thoughts could be read aloud at how silenced the surroundings were. Perhaps they were being read without his permission. Under the deafened nothingness, where the whole concept of sound was thrown out of the equation, Chanyeol wanted to talk, let his baritone voice be free. It drove him nearly mad to experience such agony.

“I’m done now,” Kyungsoo remarked, returning all sounds to its rightful place. Scaring yet impressing the crap out of Chanyeol with his incredible control of his powers.

A grasp of sound-manipulation was the freedom of choice for the user to choose how he or she wanted sound waves to vibrate. This could be used as rightly or wrongly as the user wanted. In Kyungsoo’s case, he remembered how his old master taught him how to use his powers to kill and cease positions in the villain hierarchy. ‘To have the power to control those lower than you, is truly a blessing and a curse,’ or something fake deep like that. He was skeptical of everyone’s actions growing up, but he trusted a very selected few with his secrets.   

 

 

 

A working clock never stopped moving forward, so Kyungsoo should do the same. It was something he told himself over and over when things were not looking fortuitous. He left Chanyeol’s shabby apartment in the late of night. The loving boyfriend was deep into his sleep to miss Kyungsoo’s missing presence. It wasn’t something Kyungsoo disliked particularly because he was able to do something like this without interruption. A full moon in the sky was going to be bathed in red as soon as Kyungsoo would put on his unique mask on.

It was a shame that he could have been in any cool outfit like any other villain or hero, but it was appropriate, apparently, to have his outfit to be stuck to the same tuxedo that he used when he sang on stage. It was okay. He guessed. Not many heroes lived meeting the Siren, anyway. There was no one to impress, not that he needed to in the first place, with his outfit, so he shouldn’t care too heavy on specifics. Get the job done. That was all he should be focused on.

He realigned his mask, which was creepy in its own way. He found it funny how morbid of a message his mask conveyed with the numerous small openings shaped like lips that were sewn together. As an added feature, half of the randomly placed lips were smiling, almost like it was laughing, while the other half were frowning. It made Kyungsoo wonder why his mask had to be designed this way, but he held his tongue and ventured towards Exo’luXion. There was a special one-time event being held, and he was the star of the show.

He needed to earn money, enough to buy him a sort of freedom from the darkness that he was constantly followed by. A person running away from their shadow was foolish; no matter where they run, it trailed behind happily like a parasite. Then he could leave his villain life behind, and he could choose a path that suited him similar to the clothes he wore. Upon opening the door and walking through the entrance of the jazz club, he already felt the penetrating glares from outside, but it was different tonight. Not the usual spotlight that shined on him from the moment he walked in. Not the ominous vibe that the audience provided. It was different in a subtle way.

He breathed in. Omnidirectional whispering heard as the bartender proceeded to wipe down the glass cups. He didn’t have to use a voice distorter since he could use anyone’s voice in the world as long as he heard it once before. Perks of having sound-manipulation. “Let’s begin the  _death_ show,” Kyungsoo used a little angelic girl’s voice as he bowed to the audience’s booing.

The crowd was full of heroes and villains alike. They all shared a common goal of greed and power. As long as they could get a chance to kill the Siren in its own lair and bring the head to their respective organizations, then they would rise through the ranks at an astonishing rate. The only real problem with this deal was that it was a double-sided sword.

Kyungsoo walked carefully upon the stage. He switched his voice to an elderly weak lady that he heard on a TV drama, “We all know how this works. You poor lot are the selected few to attempt to take down me, Siren. The 12th ranking villain in the world. You all versus me.”

A Glock could be heard being loaded somewhere in the audience. Kyungsoo smirked underneath his mask, waiting for the moment he could taste the burning metal against his salivating tongue. A moment of hesitation -oh, please, do shoot it-, but the finger pulled and fired the first bullet through the air. However, it didn’t travel two inches away when it left the barrel. Instead, it stood in place, in mid-air, suspended as if it were a piece of art in a museum. Confusion arose in the audience as to what the commotion was, but they shared a disappointed look as one villain shakily stood in his chair with the Glock facing towards Kyungsoo.

“Didn’t you know?” Kyungsoo inquired cat-like, “Guns are loud. Especially once they leave the barrel. Should have brought a suppressor at least.” He examined the poor man that was dressed in a typical sinister outfit, which usually comes in dull black or bright red. It was all the same to Kyungsoo. He’d seen the trademark concept time after time. He swirled the bullet around from a distance with a finger. Contemplating of what to do with it, he flicked it boringly and watched as the man with the Glock fell to his knees with a hole in his head. “Simple mistake to take a gun to a superpower fight.”

“You’re right, bitch. How about stopping something like this!?” A furious clamor came from the other corner of the room, which the source of the sound was a tall woman that was a hero. Her black and yellow armored appearance was interesting to Kyungsoo until she tightly gripped her sword and expertly tossed it like a javelin at him. The idea that the weapon served more than to be swung around in someone's hands. 

It enticed Kyungsoo, greatly. Creative people sure brought out the devil inside of him.

He clapped his hands, using the sound waves that vibrated in the air to reflect the sword into the wall to his left effortless, then he snapped his fingers, which dented the front of her breast armor as if a medium-sized iron ball collided with her at a frightening speed. Kyungsoo coldly hummed to a beat in his head as he rocked his head like a cat playing with its food before devouring it. “They say,” switching to mimic the brave woman’s voice, “the first person to attack usually loses. Personally, it’s about _bravery_ and skill to plow through a field of mines. Maybe you don’t get it right now, but in due time, you will.”

“Fuck you,” the brutally injured woman barked, letting her knight helmet come off her head and revealing her delicate and disgusted face.

“You lived honorably. I will admit that but,” Kyungsoo continued misusing the woman’s voice against her, “as the saying goes, death waits for no man, or woman, in this case.” He sang a low-pitch note, letting the sound to vibrate to constrict the clad woman, slowly crushing the armor like a tin can. Her painful screeches were not heard by anyone as Kyungsoo silenced her only method of calling for help. In seconds, her life escaped through her mouth and never came back. A new meaning to dead silence.

Another person added to the list of things that Kyungsoo would like to forget about as he did this job. He already killed too many people, and he could only keep adding a little more until his retirement. The deal he made with them was that he would put himself on display for heroes and villains to kill. If he could live through each event, they would grant him retirement. It was sick and twisted, but he agreed because it was the only means they would provide him freedom. If killing people got him into this business, then killing people was going to be his way out. Once he becomes his own man, he didn’t have to worry about using his powers to kill or to be forced to kill anymore.

There was a complicated case he heard from people higher than him that there was another person that wanted freedom like Kyungsoo. He was peculiar as a person since he was a hero _and_ a villain. The person’s powers were involved in healing and creating neurotoxins, dieases, illness and plague-alike. His name was Lay to the villains, but Unicorn to the heroes. He took the 10th position in both organizations before coming to a grand halt. Kyungsoo deeply remembered this person since this exact person was the one in charge of the famous hospital for metahumans-alike. Zhang Yixing as Kyungsoo remembered, but he could only shiver to the reminder of what Dr. Zhang was capable of. He looked back on his treacherous memories of the one and only time he worked with that monster. Nothing Kyungsoo did was on the same level to the pitiful individuals that crossed the twisted doctor.

Putting his focus back to the audience in front of him, Kyungsoo wanted to be back underneath Chanyeol’s arms. He cued the musicians in the back to start playing the song that Kyungsoo prepared for this night. The piano first to play before the rest of the instruments collided, “I’ll sing you all ‘I’m the Bad Guy’ from Wander Over Yonder. Comedic, I know.”

 

  

 

 

Kyungsoo opened the Chanyeol’s apartment surreptitiously, peeking from the edge to see the darkened room still the same as he left it. The night for Kyungsoo ended stainless for him, but he swore that the amount of blood spilled by his hands was nothing far from morbid. He detested a part of him, so much that Kyungsoo proposed a crafty plan to buy some arches of land, not an overbearing amount, and have a house ready to set himself on fire in. Cleansing his soul, spirit, some bullshit he can stand behind.

The villain crawled into bed with his hero, purposely not making a sound as a way to keep the pyrokinetic from waking up. He would come to dream something anew apart from the never-ending blank blackness that suffocated his dreams. Yes. It was relatively happy, filled with a potential future, of flowers and meadows, encased in a floral scent with the help of the wind. A dream that didn’t fester like on an old blister but aired a sensation of freedom. Oh. Yes. Kyungsoo was truly happy to be back in Chanyeol’s arms.

 

* * *

 

Now that the identity of their true selves was out with each other. It became quite easy to adjust to one another in an honest way. Chanyeol didn’t have to often let Kyungsoo waste his gas cooking since the singer actively did that a lot. To be fair, Chanyeol hadn’t received rent money from Kyungsoo, so the singer was riding on the benefit of love until then. Sometimes, not overbearingly, they discussed living together but agreeing for settling for Chanyeol’s apartment as the best option for the time being.

It became no surprise that Kyungsoo kept the spare key instead of letting it be hidden under the rug. It was too common in most people’s books, and the last thing he and his pyrokinetic boyfriend needed was a potential burglar that happened to be a metahuman. Enough criminals in the world. Sheesh.

Being together in the living room, Chanyeol finished doing the laundry since he was being pecked at from mama-bird-Kyungsoo. He accepted the ‘good job’ kisses when he folded his own clothes because his boyfriend was sweet that way. A different day than that, it came as a surprise when Chanyeol subconsciously breathed fire out of his mouth after Kyungsoo and he argued about moving together soon. The spat out flames landed on the ceiling but it was avidly extinguished by Kyungsoo’s low sound frequency, which was later explained scientifically -ironically, really- to Chanyeol about how the singer did that.

“God, I’m dating a dragon,” Kyungsoo mumbled as he fell onto the couch, strained by the burden of their living predicament. “Look, ‘Yeol. I know this is hard, but I want to live with you as much as you want to live with me.”

“Yeah—”

“—but we can’t. Yet. Let’s not move away somewhere until we get our superpower lives in check. I know you and I have the funds to get out of the country, buy a small island, call it our own paradise, and live there peacefully. But that’s not going to happen with how entwined our lives are to our other personas.”

“Fuck, you’re right, Soo. I’m just mad about it. I love you so much, and I just want to settle down already,” Chanyeol banged his head against the kitchen wall. He never wanted to leave his hero life before, content with the money, the somewhat fame and recognition, and the good deeds he performed for the people that couldn’t protect themselves or simply needed it. It was a one-way life that he stuck his head in until Kyungsoo arrived and opened a new pathway. He sighed to himself. “I’m sorry for overreacting, Kyungsoo-ya. You don’t have to forgive me, but I do apologize for my actions. I’ll do better in the future.”

Kyungsoo lifted himself from the couch to lovingly look into Chanyeol’s honest eyes. He chuckled, then laughed, laughed until his stomach couldn’t take it. Next, he stood up and motioned Chanyeol to come to him, without using his powers (of course). “I forgive you. How about I just move in into this apartment instead? I can pay half of the rent, even if that’s seriously just chump change to you, but I can do that for you if you like?”

Chanyeol brightened up, his powers subconsciously peaking again, heating his body to start another fire. Although, he restricted himself to not set an unwanted alarm. Charmingly, he showered Kyungsoo with tiny kisses and pronounced his undying love for him. Wrapping his arms around the smaller waist, he lifted his boyfriend in the air and spun him around like a sickening teen romance movie. “Deal,” Chanyeol smirked, carrying the singer into the bedroom that would soon be officially considered ‘theirs’ instead of ‘Chanyeol’s.’

He plopped Kyungsoo onto the (not-so) single bed and crawled from the edge to get between the singer’s legs. “Celebratory sex sounds necessary,” Chanyeol said so smugly, almost matter-of-factly.

“I fucking hate heroes,” Kyungsoo chuckled, throwing his head back into the pillow as he let Chanyeol undo his pants and pry them off with a dexterity; his underwear came along down. The undergarments disappeared from the bed’s line of sight. “I repeat, I fucking hate heroes.”

“But I’m your hero,” Chanyeol stated, too sweet for Kyungsoo’s gums, giving a tentative taste with his tongue on the tip of the other man’s penis. What a salty, dirty taste, truth be told, but it enticed Chanyeol beyond belief. It wasn’t too strange that Chanyeol glorified the other man’s phallus since it had the perfectly realistic length while it was a little thicker than average. One thing Chanyeol entertained to himself was that their dicks shared one common trait: uncut.

“Please, don’t say cute things while looking lewd, it’s—aaaah, woah! Fuck, ‘Yeol,” Kyungsoo’s eyes rolled back, eyelids shut off from the world, mouth automatically opened as Chanyeol began working strokes with his hands while going down with his own mouth. The combination was up to par to Kyungsoo’s techniques, but it was expected that Chanyeol would pick up on them after experiencing them often. “Bastard,” Kyungsoo aimlessly shot the insult into the air.

Kyungsoo took drastic measures because he lived with Chanyeol long enough that it was only going to get louder between them by the passing second. He soundproofed the walls of their room with his powers as an effort to keep the neighbors off their back since the first time they had sex made the neighbors call the police under the impression that someone was being murdered next door. Fun times as Kyungsoo had to shamelessly explain with sex-hair about the situation to the cops.

It was going to be different, though. Not consumed by absolute lust that there was no room for love. Definitively not gentle, like a touching the bare feet of a newborn, but the way Kyungsoo wanted it to be rough _enough_ that it would draw screams to scratch the walls. If there were other terms to describe it, then Kyungsoo wanted to be manhandled. His strangely masochistic body asking to be punished and taught a lesson despite being all-powerful with his abilities. Something to remind him to get off his high horse and taste the grass and dirt below.

Evidently, if sex was going to occur, there were going to need to be the proper tools to help facilitate the process. Kyungsoo pulled lube from under the pillow, a running joke between him and Chanyeol about keeping the wet dreams lubed or some dumb shit like that, and he passed it over to the taller man tonguing at his slit expertly. Kyungsoo had to express his slight displeasure, “God, if I’d knew you would be this good after being with me, I would have trouble finding a more compatible partner in bed.”

Chanyeol took the lube and placed it to the side of the bed for the time being, for there were other priorities that beckoned him. Chanyeol spread Kyungsoo’s legs incredibly wide, never unimpressed by the flexibility, lowering his nose until he reached the hole and smelled at it. As an opportune time to think, the pyrokinetic was glad that they showered together today and were overall clean. “Can’t have you leaving me now, Soo-ya.”

“I don’t think I want to ever leave at this point,” Kyungsoo pushed out a moan as he felt a sudden wet sensation take over his hole, overriding his basic communication function. Rocking his hips to help relieve his horniness, it did little to help besides tightening up the most vulnerable spot on his body to be lubricated by Chanyeol’s festive tongue. “No, fucck, don’t tease me like this, Chanyeol, please,” Kyungsoo whimpered, legs trembling violently, failing horribly to hold still for a second while Chanyeol smooched the precious hole tenderly, and Kyungsoo buried himself ears-deep into the pillow as his necessary uncontrolled moans slammed the walls greatly.

“Quiet, Soo. The neighbors will hear,” Chanyeol pulled back for air, laughing to himself between Kyungsoo’s thighs, pressing a kiss or two before he fell content yearning at his boyfriend. “Remember that one time?”

“Yes. I. Fucking. Remember. That. Time,” Kyungsoo angrily spat each word, tempted to clamp his legs down on the other man’s neck and snap it like a chicken. “That’s why I used my powers to soundproof the walls.”

“Ah,” Chanyeol nodded. He smirked at Kyungsoo’s devilish frown, the lustful pupils, the sharp breaths from the short rim job. This is what it was all about: this mutual love. “You’re so cute being reduced to a mess when I work, touch, _love_ your body, Kyungsoo-ya. I’ll let you top next time, so let me be the one to ravish you today.”

“No complaints here,” Kyungsoo giggled a little too happily.Watching his man -oh, how possessive and righteous he felt saying that- stick two fingers into Kyungsoo’s mouth, obliging to give the long sticks a little slick, pulling them out offensively slow for Kyungsoo’s horny tendencies, lining the tips along the outside of the anus, then pushing into a concealed area that Kyungsoo kept exclusive for those that earned it. “Shit,” he managed to exhale as the intruding fingers excavated deeper.

Chanyeol was infamous for leaving marks on his lover’s body, and it was a personal kink he had of leaving a little something for his partners in the past. He let his fingers to continuously prodded Kyungsoo while the pyrokinetic worked his teeth into Kyungsoo’s juicy thigh meat, sucking a section of flesh until peach skin bruised and turned into an inflamed color, hearing a hiss from his lover ride through the thickened air. “Shh, I’ll kiss it better, Soo.”

“Oh, fuck me,” Kyungsoo tiredly mentioned, knowing full well of what he was implying.

“Be patient and I will,” Chanyeol murmured, hiding the dangerous smile on his face as his fingers stretched out Kyungsoo’s ring of muscle to be able to take in something _fitting_ than lanky fingers. “I’ll get the condom, just let—”

“—No, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo’s powers subconsciously silenced the pyrokinetic’s vocal chords. When the singer realized his action, he apologized, released his control, and sheepishly explained his true intentions. “Just, cum inside. I want to feel every part of you in whatever way. Whether it’s your kiss, your scent, and in this case: semen.”

“So vulgar,” Chanyeol playfully stuck his tongue out and faked gagging noises. Not bothering himself to dodge the slight nudge from Kyungsoo’s feet to his arm, he loved how flustered he made the other man. “Kidding, I’m only kidding,” Chanyeol reassured his boyfriend, unbuttoning his pants, which was surprisingly still intact the whole time.

Once prying the cursed pants off, he made quick work of his black boxer briefs, which happened to be Kyungsoo’s since they tend to wear each other’s clothes whenever they felt. Remembering his shirt on his body, he held the front bottom corners of his designer shirt and lifted it over his head and laid the line of fabric on the back of his neck. Admittedly, he was lazy to completely take off the clothing off.

Propping himself on top of Kyungsoo as they were choosing to go missionary, Chanyeol allowed his hard length to poke shyly at the hole beneath him. It brought a new meaning to ‘poking fun’ at someone. It didn’t hide the shark smile on his face as he gazed at the beautiful submissive person in front of him. He uncapped the lube and made a mustard-line over his eager cock, rubbing the sticky water-based substance in all dimensions. “I’ll go slowly for you,” Chanyeol carefully stated.

“Um hm,” Kyungsoo trusted Chanyeol with this, this act of intimacy, of carefulness.

Wordless, Chanyeol penetrated the first layer of flesh to be greeted by great warmth. _Wow_ , Chanyeol first thought, then tight was the superficial description he could use, but he wasn’t an author or somebody good with the dictionary, so he knew there was something more fitting than ‘just tight’. He settled for mediocre, but it wasn’t like he was going to write any of this and publish it to the _world_ to see. What kind of idiot would he be if he did?

Chanyeol thrust deeper. He softly grunted as he sucked down on the inside of his bottom lip. Embarking through the warmth, the fire, the sun, to know where his destination ended. It stopped when Kyungsoo’s moans, something that the other man was never known for faking, became acute and daringly vigorous. Chanyeol _knew_ that his dick reached the prostate. A proud feat to parade around about.

Although, he wished sex would be simple as a single thrust and finish off there. It _never_ was defined by a single push. It was mixture of simulations: multiple pushes, three tugs, ten bites into the shoulder blade, two-hundred hot breaths of sweet words, half of which is _I love you, Chanyeol_ and other half is _I love you, Kyungsoo_ , messy but passionate kisses, squelching sounds escaping the corners of Kyungsoo’s asshole, scent of faint sweat filling the air.

There were even desperate words, ones that straightforwardly stated its intentions, leaking from Kyungsoo’s mouth like a bad porno. “Ah, yeah, fuck yeah. Yes. Please, ‘Yeol. Harder. Harder!”

And like sheep being herded, Chanyeol followed. He fucked harder each time Kyungsoo wanted it. He slammed his cock into the mold that shaped around his precious skin and wrecked it anew. The bed rocked and bended to their private dance, unknowing of what to do with the music of growls, moans, and cursed shouting that surrounded the room, but the bed still danced along with them. Carelessly, Chanyeol didn’t mind being brainwashed or a mindless idiot for Kyungsoo’s command because he would think of any way to help the singer seek nirvana.

“Harder,” Kyungsoo scratched his nails down the canvas that was Chanyeol’s sweaty back.

Chanyeol huffed but pounded into the abused asshole.

“Mark me.”

Chanyeol laid hickeys out on trail of mixed lilac and crimson across Kyungsoo’s chest.

“Slap my ass.”

Chanyeol preferred a pacifist route in most situations, but he couldn’t do that when Kyungsoo was needy and horny like this. He flipped over Kyungsoo into doggy, pulling out his cock from the other man’s asshole, missing the warm home it made, and first bit down on the left ass cheek with a force that would leave behind evidence that he was there. Then, Chanyeol fucking slapped that ass so hard that the tingles left behind lingered for a whole two minutes.

“Put it back in, quickly! Chanyeol, I want _you_ back inside of me.”

Yes. Of course. Anything Kyungsoo wanted. It would be humbly obliged by Chanyeol. Sadly, he had little stamina leftover, but he was ready to finish this steamy sex session off in an imminent climax. Speaking his first words in a long time, Chanyeol messily thrust inside of Kyungsoo without any sense of the earlier formed rhythm. “I’m going to cum.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Kyungsoo chanted badly, droplets of sweat trickling all over his body. His own hand stroking his cock with his flowing precum to help reach his very climax alongside his boyfriend.

Decorating the inside of the singer’s walls in milky white, Chanyeol smashed his lips horribly against the back of Kyungsoo’s neck and whispered softly into those delectable earlobes, “I. Adore. You.”

Kyungsoo held back his load until those words set loose the dam that was weakly reinforced. He splattered his cum over the bedsheets and, shit, those would be a painful bitch in the ass to wash later on. Well, fuck it. Kyungsoo was too high on the leftover ecstasy from his joyride and needed to adjust to the atmosphere again. “You’re lovable, Chanyeol.”

“Thank you,” Chanyeol smirked, but Kyungsoo didn’t need to see to know that it was smugly there.

 

* * *

 

 

Kyungsoo loved Chanyeol. He truly, sincerely did with his beating heart. However, there were still too many secrets that Kyungsoo had hiding in the cold darkness. A time for change was needed. Kyungsoo needed answers for how long he had to keep killing for his freedom from his agency. And the only _known_ person to accomplish it was none other than Doctor Zhang Yixing.

Kyungsoo scheduled an appointment with the doctor using a fake name and description to infiltrate the hospital grounds. It was easy enough, actually. The only unpredictable valuable to take into account was Yixing’s reaction.

As Kyungsoo sat on the stool they provided in the check-up room, he soundproofed the walls of the room to ensure that what happened inside would stay inside. The door opened with Dr. Zhang mindlessly examining the clipboard that probably had Kyungsoo’s fake description of symptoms that he was suffering from.

“Okay, Mr. Severe Stomach Problems, let’s see what’s really wrong,” Dr. Zhang paid no attention to the patient as he closed the door.

“You might want to lock it, _Lay_ ,” Kyungsoo stoically stated.

The Doc pressed the lock button but still hadn’t returned a glance to Kyungsoo as if he was unaffected by the old codename. “Ah, a troublesome patient has entered my grounds,” he sighed a little too deeply and long, then he stopped flipping the pages on his clipboard.

“How long, Unicorn?” Kyungsoo cryptically asked, assuming the other man would understand what he meant.

This time he earned Yixing’s attention but could sense a hostile aura emanating from him. Although, it was covered by a sigh again, “Ah, so you know of both my names. Look, how about we settle this over like normal citizens and come to a compromise before I call security?”

“I’m simply looking for answers,” Kyungsoo confessed, not interested in anything else. “I’m Siren, by the way.”

“Oh!” Yixing happily exclaimed, exhaling more air strangely, “You’re the current holder of the 12th position for villains. I certainly remember you now.”

Kyungsoo huffed a frustrated breath before he accurately sliced the ugly azure necktie on the doctor’s collar clean. “I won’t hesitate next time,” Kyungsoo warned, breathing the oddly thick air.

“Oh, what a _bad_ move,” Yixing calm and happy demeanor suddenly was replaced by something quite evil.

It sent a bad vibe for Kyungsoo as he realized that his body was unable to move. His throat acted as if it were clogged, his muscles too stiff to react to commands, and only his eyes were freely roaming across the room.

“Don’t worry, it’s only a mild effect,” Doctor Zhang explained, “I filled the air with an amazing paralyzing agent by simply breathing out in large portions.”

Crap. Kyungsoo was played from the start of their conversation. He struggled heavily to speak a few words, “How. Long?”

“You’re lucky you’re not dead by now,” Yixing articulated, “I’ll heal your throat and vocal chords, so you can speak. But my neurotoxins are reactive to my body signature. If I feel threatened by your presence, your heart will stop beating as a consequence.” The doctor placed his hand over Kyungsoo’s neck and remedied his earlier actions to the singer.

“I just—I just want to know you got out of both organizations,” Kyungsoo said in defeat, averting his eyes in shame.

“Ah, so you want out now?”

“...”

“I see. Well, if your experience is anything like mine, I had to kill a lot of my own comrades. I also purposed that I would do something else that would benefit everyone in the end.”

“So you became a doctor,” Kyungsoo pieced the conclusion aloud.

“Yes. This is all I can do without both organizations coming after my ass every chance they could get,” Yixing was exasperated from his past ordeal. “I already know you soundproof the room, by the way. It’s expected from the Siren. Besides, last thing we need is having our conversation heard.”

“Yeah.”

“Look here, kid,” Yixing glanced at Kyungsoo in eye-level, “you should have left when you started off. While you were still under their radar. Now that you’ve reached a high position, it’s going to be hard for them to let you go without spilling any secrets that they want to keep hidden under the table,” taking a small breath as the intensity of their conversation was making Yixing’s styled hair get loose, “I was lucky to have healing powers. I showed them that I could still be useful in the outside world. This hospital is a haven for me, but it’s also a prison. Get out of one box to be placed into another, funny.”

“But you’re still free,” Kyungsoo wanted to sound hopeful because he hated to come to dead-end after yearning for a proper retirement.

“I guess, in some sense, but your case isn’t going to come out the same as mine.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo let his voice dry to a halt, like fresh cookies that were out too long and became stale.

“Don’t look so gloom, Siren,” Yixing sighed, not trying to fill the room with more of his neurotoxins. “You want my advice? Fight. Fight. Fight until you achieved your goal, but you should always make sure it’s done by your terms more than theirs. Always do what’s right for yourself.”

Kyungsoo wanted to complain about how difficult his plight was, but he understood the sincerity that the doctor was conveying. This was someone that empathized with him.

“If this is all you have to say, Siren, I have _real_ patients to tend to,” Yixing stated annoyingly, deactivating his powers on Kyungsoo and walking out of the room, never looking back.

“Oh, fuck,” Kyungsoo stated alone in the check-up room.

 

 

 

 

Upon returning home, his stoic expression was brightened by Chanyeol’s presence as the taller man ran to the doorway like a happy dog. “Welcome home, Soo-ya!” 

“I’m home,” Kyungsoo stated in a dead manner. A weak smile present on his face.

“What’s the matter?” Chanyeol instantly picked up the troubled waters.

Kyungsoo sighed. “It’s nothing. The check-up was long and boring.”

“Oh, tell me about it. I wished I didn’t have to wait for hours on end to wait for the doctor to tell me that I’m okay as always,” Chanyeol rambled, a common trait in him lately, “but I like the reassurance, though. You never know what’s wrong with you nowadays.”

“You’re right,” Kyungsoo said, falling his head to rest on the taller man’s safe chest.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Baekhyun sat in his office at H.S. His desk, expensively made from the finest wood with an Apple computer present on the tabletop. Various luxurious frames of himself with his friends and family were scattered along the outer perimeter of the desk. He was speaking to his duo partner, codename: Suho, “Junmyeon, is it really plausible to say that Siren’s case is on the rise?” Looking at the paperwork that was in his hands that were given by his partner. Unsure of what to make of the complicated text work.

“I’m certain,” Suho, which meant ‘guardian’ in the Korean language, remarked, swishing the transparent liquid inside of Baekhyun’s water dispenser with a sway of his finger. “I say, a threat is a threat. We _handle_ threats that blow up like this.”

“Hm, a case that needs the single-digit heroes such as ourselves,” Baekhyun pondered at the certification on the papers that gave the authorization to investigate the particular case. It might prove to be difficult but fun to hunt down the villainous fiend. “Well, let’s bring out the available background information on Siren. Time to compile a file for this freak.”

“Baek?” Junmyeon popped the name quizzically, not waiting for a response from the other man, “never mind. Let’s just collect our data.”

“Okie dok,” Baekhyun cheered, cracking his fingers before he would search the archives of H.S. database on everything available about Siren while Junmyeon left the room to do his own private gathering of information. Someone had to get their hands dirty to get what they wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos, comments, questions, or silent support is all appreciated! Thank you for reading this wild fic / me! Thank you for giving it a chance as well. It means a lot to me T^T.


	4. Plight and Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, here is the next chapter as promised! Thank you to everyone reading this, the unspoken support AND spoken support really made me happy c: So I can't thank you guys enough for giving this story a shot. I know the plot is thickening and should be concluding sometime soon...? I'm not exactly sure how many chapters I could do left for it bc it should reach an understandable point to end the story and not just leave everything for a sequel or any vagueness of what happens to everyone.
> 
> SOOOOoooOOo I'm trying to see how I SHOULD end it all eventually, but yeaaah. I'm still not stable on a consistent idea of it yet, but i'm getting there somehow. I'll figure it out. 
> 
> This chapter is shorter than usual bc I had a shit ton of things to do throughout the week, and I just couldn't fit in free time (well, I did have free time moderately enough to write the usual length, but I was not feeling the mood to write, so to say, so yeah. There's that.) but do enjoy the chapter!

Chanyeol pretended he didn’t see how exhausted Kyungsoo was getting day by day. It was ever since Kyungsoo came back from the appointment that he was acting this way. Chanyeol thought that perhaps the doctor Kyungsoo had was a shitty one and didn’t thoroughly check the singer’s body for health problems. He really hoped there was nothing vile happening in Kyungsoo’s body.

Chanyeol, being the responsible adult that he was, had to confront the concern appropriately after Kyungsoo had dinner because it was the most opportune time to drop the question in while the singer was close to a food coma. Sad but funnily true. Regardless, it would kill the mood, but it sure as hell made progress go by quicker when all Kyungsoo wanted to do was sleep.

“So, tell me again,” Kyungsoo agitatedly said, laying himself down on the couch, a personal favorite place beside the bed for leisure time for the couple, “what exactly is my problem?”

“I don’t know!” Chanyeol high-energy beaming at an inappropriate time, “I can feel that there is something wrong, but you’re hiding it from me. It might be to protect me or yourself, but you’re still hiding it, and that’s the point.”

Kyungsoo could have possibly hidden his burdens better, but he found that his numerous years of experience of playing pretend was beginning to rust and crumble. Was there a person to blame for it?

Oh, yes, there was one. A tall handsome pyrokinetic was the cause of Kyungsoo’s loosened skills.

Lying wasn’t something Kyungsoo liked to doing towards Chanyeol. It was why he didn’t bother speaking of his problems in the first place to avoid these type of loaded conversations. Giving up, the singer held a long breath, “Chanyeol? I’m simply having a midlife crisis at the age of twenty-four.”

“What? How so?” Chanyeol’s turn to prop himself on the couch, but laying on top of his boyfriend to cradle his face into the space between Kyungsoo’s neck and the pillows of their couch.

“I’m trying to take control of my future, but it’s proving to be easier said than done,” Kyungsoo could go for a shot of soju around now. To calm the nerves or something. Alcohol sounded like a good way to melt the awkward ice.

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol honey voice ruled over the singer’s senses, “we got into this relationship with honesty. We should continue to keep it that way.”

“I know.”

“Then be open and trust that I will understand, or at least eventually come to understand what you’re going through,” Chanyeol maturely stated.

Kyungsoo disliked this part of the pyrokinetic as much as he adored the very trait. Whispering exasperatedly, “Okay, retirement isn’t easy when you’re a high-class villain.”

The phrase came out heavier than Kyungsoo thought. He wished there wasn’t a difference between one extreme or the other, but there was a valid reason why the left was left, and the right was right despite the fact that both pertained to a sense of direction. There was still a difference laid out.

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol locked eyes with Kyungsoo, which was a personal distraction that the singer never minded. The ignited spark of worry and love mixed into the iris of Chanyeol’s eyes brought pity and regret into Kyungsoo’s secrecy.

Stroking the surfacing black hair on Chanyeol’s head of syrup-colored hair, Kyungsoo truly wished that he could outright say what he had to say, but instead, it could only come out in riddles, “I have to do things… things you don’t want your hands to be filthy with. Things that keep you awake at night, have your skin crawl with goosebumps, and leave you numb to the world for a while.”

“I get it, for now,” Chanyeol remarked, closing his eyes to listen to the beating heart that belonged to Kyungsoo. He could simply tell that the singer was finding it difficult to open this much of himself, but Chanyeol empathized what it meant to be inclusive of secrets with a significant other.

“And, Chanyeol, I love you. I want us to live a life together, but I _have_ to do this if I want more of my dreams to come true.”

“Okay, I trust you. Whatever it is that you’re doing. Just… promise me that you survive out there.”

“I’ll try,” Kyungsoo bobbed his head, forcing his lover underneath his chin to mimic the motion.

Their breathing patterns synchronized, acting as one entity rather opposed as two. “Better than nothing,” Chanyeol murmured, pressing forward for a timid kiss.

 

* * *

 

One Friday night, Kyungsoo sat down by the edge of the water of the river that constantly streamed downwards back to the ocean that was many miles away. He finished singing to paying customers, and he needed a break from it all. Luckily, Chanyeol laid on the same grassy surface that Kyungsoo was on. The moon’s reflection was slightly distorted on the mirror of the water, but it caught singer’s eye nonetheless.

They sat in silence for one another, knowing that not everything in the world needed to be included in a conversation. They were fine as they were. Tranquil as a soft breeze through the morning dew on blades of grass.

“I’ll be back, I’m just going to use the bathroom,” Chanyeol said, picking himself up and leaving a kiss on Kyungsoo’s forehead.

The singer sat in unperturbed with the wind whistling. He had his mask tucked beneath the black blazer in case he needed to do something drastic. It was a good precaution to have when he went out to sing. His small figure was able to hide the object without detection.

The truth was, he didn’t want to tell Chanyeol that they were being followed from the club all the way to the river bank. (Insane. The audacity of people. Kyungsoo knows.)

He wished he could play coy longer, but it didn’t look like the eagle was honing its talons to not be able to catch a fish out of the water. Whether the stalker was a threat or not, there was never anything that amounted to as a good excuse for stalking. Kyungsoo knew from experience that the action always harbored malice in its essence.

“I promise I won’t bite,” Kyungsoo remarked playfully aloud, knowing his voice could reach the stranger’s ears with his abilities.

“Mr. Do,” Yixing appeared out of the shadows, which didn’t surprise Kyungsoo of the doctor’s adapt skill to blend into the environment without a trace. It also showed the difference in levels of experience between Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to be able to notice the doctor’s presence.

“What is it now?”

“Let me say this, as a friend? Can I say friend?” Yixing chuckled to himself to his political correctness, “Anyways, Hero 04 and 07 are on your tail. I really don’t want to find your soon-to-be dead body in my hospital, so I’m telling you this to help you survive longer.”

Not questioning where the doctor received his information, Kyungsoo supposed he found it to be of use, so he thanked the doctor but still suspected Yixing for something offensive. “I appreciate your concern, but… why?”

“You know, 07 wasn’t always in that position. 07, or Suho, was actually 01, but I _killed_ the person that originally held it, which happened to be someone close to Suho,” Yixing took the empty space open next to Kyungsoo to stare longingly into the ripples of water. “I also killed two other positions that were related to 04 and 07. I still apologize to 04 and 07 every chance I can get to atone for my sins.”

“Can’t bring back the dead,” Kyungsoo stated, lightly chuckling only by himself as Yixing smiled weakly.

“I suppose that’s true.”

“It’s different when you’re a villain,” Kyungsoo added, trying to color his earlier blank statement.

“I suppose that’s true as well,” Yixing sighed to himself, still in his medical uniform, but he patted Kyungsoo supportively on the back before giving his departing words, “Mr. Do, I advise you don’t fight them head-on. They’re a lot to handle as a duo. That much I will spoil.”

“I’ll make sure to heed your warning,” Kyungsoo waved off the man, enjoying a few minutes of silence to himself before Chanyeol came by promptly on time.

“Did you wait long?” Chanyeol sheepishly brought the question up while he attempted to button his pants and realign his belt.

“No, not at all,” Kyungsoo smiled with all his shiny teeth, not worth telling his boyfriend of his encounter with the doctor. He brushed his non-existent long hair behind his shoulder, which was a ridiculous sight to see but made Chanyeol laugh nonetheless.

Friday nights were pleasant days for the warming couple.

Chanyeol, still dressed in a semi-formal clothing since he came from Kyungsoo’s show, pulled two items from inside of the vest in secret pockets. The first item being a half-eaten bar of chocolate while the other was a stainless-steel flask. The duo being combined together prompted a deliciously sweet and savory way to enjoy each other’s company.

Kyungsoo’s eyes glinted with a spark of interest at what Chanyeol was hinting. He took the chocolate and broke a small piece to shove into his moist mouth. “Pucker up, fire lips,” Kyungsoo uttered through his chews.

“Anything for you, Soo-ya,” Chanyeol retorted, leaning himself closer to the other’s tempting, beckoning lips. Whispered two notes lower than his regular voice, “I love you.”

The black-filled sky with peppered salt twinkling in the distance. Kyungsoo prayed the shade was enough to cover the insane cherry-cheeks he had when Chanyeol closed the distance and held their lips captive, trapping Kyungsoo’s tongue to the corner in the back as Chanyeol’s own tongue bustled about and rammed through.

The singer indulged into the kiss as the chocolate had already melted to liquid due to Chanyeol’s tongue carrying an entirely different heat signature in comparison to other people because of his fire powers. A swoosh of chocolate saliva swirled and flipped around because of the battling tongues. “S-se-sweet,” Kyungsoo murmured before he attempted to gasp for air, erecting a tent down in Chanyeol’s pants.

Chanyeol separated himself to pull the rim of the flask to his mouth and take a mouthful of the Grey Goose L’Orange he obtained as a gift from Baekhyun ( _Just give it a try, Chanyeollie! Take it with Kyungsoo by your side even!_ ).

The strong taste burned the taste buds and parts of the back of his throat, but he gravitated himself towards Kyungsoo’s magnetic lips to give the other man a taste of the strong alcohol. They pretended that their lips were wooden sticks, and they needed to make a fire to keep their bodies safe from the dropping temperature.

The two remained perfectly entwined with each other as the wind disturbed the still river. Meanwhile, Baekhyun and Junmyeon were casually roaming the streets together before they saw a familiar figure about to cross their path. On the other side of the road, Yixing sighed to himself before he confronted the two heroes in their tracks.

 

 

 

 

Yixing led the Baekhyun and Junmyeon to a temple to light a few candles for the fallen members of their squad. Yixing prayed quietly and respectfully before Baekhyun and Junmyeon followed after. After not conversing for a while, Baekhyun decided to speak up as they sat in front of a giant statue of Buddha. “I know you’re very sorry for your previous actions, Yi,” a sad smile crawled on his face as he diverted his eyes towards the cobweb-filled ceiling, “but I forgive you already. I’ve moved on to be a better person.” 

“Thank you,” Dr. Zhang murmured, glancing at the belly of Buddha.

Junmyeon concealed his fists as his anger boiled to the brim. The water dripping patiently outside from the hollowed out culm of a bamboo stopped in mid-air. Junmyeon sighed, releasing his whirlpool of forsaken emotions, and loosened his fist to discourage himself from doing something stupidly uncalled for that would put shame to the temple.

“I guess not everyone is willing to forgive my actions yet,” Yixing commented, noticing Junmyeon’s subtle actions.

“Perhaps you’re right, Mr. Zhang,” Junmyeon strictly stated, standing up from his knees and exiting the temple to find a designated smoke area.

“You shouldn’t let him continue smoking,” Yixing despondently mentioned to Baekhyun, who never returned a single glance to the doctor. “It’s bad for his health. I would prefer him to live longer.”

“How ironic,” Baekhyun chuckled, closing his eyes to see their past happy lives together. “I was in Junmyeon’s shoes before, but I got tired of moping around. It’s time to see the ‘sun’ shine.”

“Ha, ha,” Yixing robotically laughed, “you know, Sun, you should follow your dog before it gets lost.”

“Suho’s fine. He’s a grown man. I’m not going to baby the bastard.”

“Language.”

“How sweet coming from an ex-villain,” Baekhyun stood up to follow what Yixing suggested. “Aish, I’ll see you around, Zhang. I’ll also make sure to get Junmyeon to quit smoking sometime soon. Maybe I’ll even get him to vape or something.”

“Please do,” Yixing nodded, waving off his friend as he watched the candles in the temple flicker in the distance. He called out the ranks of the heroes he killed remorsefully, “I miss you, 00, 07, and 68.”

 

* * *

 

Kyungsoo finished another one of his special death shows that he put on to appease the organization he irritatedly belonged to. He tiredly walked through empty streets with his mask on, wandering without a sense of destination or direction. Another night of him having to spill blood, to heavily strain his vocal chords to sing his audience a melancholic lullaby to send them to the afterlife. Like Chanyeol’s clothes in the laundry, it would wash, spin, soak, spin, clean, spin, and spin, and spin until his stomach wanted to hurl. Then it would repeat it all again. An endless cycle he began to dread with his worn-out back.

He passed by the river that he and Chanyeol were kissing together not too long ago. The sweetness of the memory motivated him to keep his spirits high. He lingered there for thirty minutes and watched the same moon on the reflection of the water. The nostalgia entranced him, leaving him unaware of the person literally walking over the surface of the river.

However, a vibration in his head warned him of an ominous and hostile aura swallowing the area. Once the Jesus-like person was within talking distance, Kyungsoo changed his voice to a random male butcher that he met one time when he needed to purchase pork belly. “What pleasure do I have to meet you, fellow metahuman?”

“Siren, you are to be apprehended for your actions,” the speaker spoke pridefully, “my codename is Suho, but you will not remember it when I am through with you.”

Kyungsoo took note of the fact that the ‘Suho’ person was not cautious to wear a mask to hide his facial features. Besides, the codename overall sounded familiar to him, as if someone reminded him of this particular name. Either way, there was no way Suho could be an elite hero without a way to disguise his true identity. It was similar to being an open target practice for people to shoot at. Nonetheless, Kyungsoo didn’t doubt his senses that Suho was going to be a powerful opponent.

Any normal animal being hunted by a predator would run away with its tail between its legs to survive. At least, that was what Kyungsoo’s senses were telling him to do. As his own legs were about to turn on its heels and leave, Suho made the singer stay in place by force. “What the…blood manipulation?” he muttered, attempting to initiate movement below his waist, but it was like his muscles refused to listen to any order given by his body.

“Not quite, Siren,” Suho was already on land and making his way towards Kyungsoo with a deadpan face. “The general idea is that water is life. It runs through this earth in various forms, but it happens that a carrier of water also happens to be _human_.”

 _Fuck, this is going to be a real fight_ , Kyungsoo struggled as his lower body remained stationary to Suho’s command. “I can’t remember the last time I actually had to put effort into a fight,” he remarked with a sneer.

“You’re not facing an elite hero. You’re facing a single-digit hero,” Suho clarified as he examining the interesting textures of Kyungsoo’s mask. Gently placing his finger on the edge of the object, he was about to pry it off before he was sent flying backward into the water after a snap echoed loudly.

“Don’t touch things that aren’t yours, Suhunnie,” Kyungsoo mocked as he regained control of his lower body. The prey cornered by the predator may not actually be prey. Like the carnivorous caterpillars in Hawaii, Kyungsoo thought of himself as the unexpected predator. The monster that hid beneath under thousands of bedsheets before coming out to drink blood.

Furthermore, Kyungsoo should leave while he had a chance to. It was pointless to make himself a bigger enemy of H.S. than he already was. His escape path was steadfast as he ran on his dress shoes.

These type of shoes were most definitely not made to be fucking running in. The singer’s feet ached horribly, but he couldn’t dispose of his shoes randomly somewhere. These were fucking expensive! Like hell, there was no way that Kyungsoo was going to waste his money to buy new shoes.

“Ya!” A voice called behind Kyungsoo. “Is our Cinderella trying to make it home before midnight?”

Another annoying opponent appeared. Kyungsoo faced the voice and saw a slim figure dressed in a white luxury tuxedo with a noticeable Persian blue tie. The strangely familiar person exposed his real face but held a comic mask. The singer would be lying to himself if he thought that he didn’t think the man sounded and looked arrogant and obnoxious. Using Suho’s voice, Kyungsoo talked with the borrowed voice. “What pleasure do I have with you?”

Baekhyun frowned with a killer glare as he familiarized the voice. “A common trait that the Siren does is use the voice of those that he killed,” he stated, impressing the other man with his knowledge. “I won’t let you take Suho like that. I’ve lost too many people, and I can’t afford to lose him, either.”

“Sun,” Suho appeared behind Baekhyun, cracking his knuckles in his left hand as he resented the man across from him. Afterward, he dipped his right hand into his oddly dry suit -Kyungsoo swore the man was forced into the water- and revealed a tragedy mask. “It’s sweet to know your true feelings, but let’s focus on our target.”

 _Anyways, Hero 04 and 07 are on your tail… I advise you don’t fight them head-on_ , Yixing’s warning replayed in Kyungsoo’s mind, making him scoff at the past. What rotten luck… he should have seen this coming, nonetheless. He couldn’t believe that the moment came sooner than expected. In other light of things, the Thalia and Melpomene-based masks that the two heroes used were an eye-catcher to him. He could agree that the two heroes’ personalities matched the respective masks excellently.

“I can’t even use invisibility against him since Siren’s reliant on sound rather than sight,” Baekhyun jested lightheartedly.

“Sun,” Junmyeon sternly glanced at his partner, a classic upside smile apparent on his face.

“Yes, yes, Suho,” Baekhyun bobbed his head around to the seriousness of the situation. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and then took it out to show off a cutely-designed flashlight. Upon turning it on, the ray of light materialized in a non-transparent form similar to a lightsaber. “Let’s put on a show for _you_ this time, Siren,” Baekhyun’s sadistic nature started to crawl through the surface of his face.

Simultaneously to Kyungsoo’s sudden plight, Chanyeol was boiling a pot of water to help soften his noodles, which he will thoroughly enjoy consuming later on when the rest of the ingredients get mixed together. The tall hero sat still temporarily on the floor in front of the TV to distract his mind as he waited for his boyfriend to come home.

They were sleeping soundly together, and Chanyeol woke up to a bad feeling in his stomach to notice that Kyungsoo wasn’t by his side. Oh, the bad feeling was him needing to take a shit, which also led him to get hungry shortly after. It all led him back to the point where he was—making noodles at such unholy hours of the morning. “Damn, where are you, Soo-ya?” Chanyeol sulked as he watched an English movie with Korean subtitles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, leave your support in whatever way you find comfortable! Got a question? Talk to me and let's discuss together on it c: Everyone, enjoy the rest of your time and I'll see y'all next time.


	5. Hold My Hands and Make Sure I'm Okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of my story!!! As much as I wanted to drag it on and on and on... I can't hahaha ^__^" I wished I could, but I have 2 other Chansoo fics I'm working (bc I'm a horrible writer that makes other stories while in the progress of completing one story). Besides, i wanted to give this story a good rest and let someone else make their own superhero au or something to the way they want to convey it. I'm only kindling the flame with this story. Thank you to everyone for reading this story!
> 
> I am very happy to announce the end of this multi-chaptered hell!
> 
> I know I'm a lot as a writer since I tend to write huge bulking fics, but it's just something I like to do as a writer. WHOOPS~ but yes, thank you still! Enjoy the chapter!
> 
> EDITED (11/10/17): Well, I finally gave in and gave my ending here a proper one where it doesn't necessarily seem soooo rushed. I felt it would make sense for a good story to be given a good ending. afterallthistimecoughcough. But yeah! Still, thank you all for supporting this still. I've read all the comments on this story and even responded back to everyone! I can see this story gave everyone a lasting impression, and I can be proud of this work and how it came out to be. But yes. Thank you all for this opportunity to help me become a better writer by reading this story and displaying your concern and criticisms on certain points. I will work harder on my future stories, so please continue to show me this wonderful support!

Chanyeol woke up the following morning with unwanted worry stuck in his stomach. The thickened quietness of their shared apartment unnerved him. There was still no sign of Kyungsoo, so he dreaded that something horrible happened to his boyfriend over last night. The suspicion soon became reality once he turned on the TV to see the news all over every channel.

“This just in. A section of the city has been cut off to prevent people from coming in or out of the area. It looks like Heroes 04 and 07 are in pursuit of the Siren,” the female newscaster stated monotonously.

Suddenly, the codename registered with his brain and made him realize that Kyungsoo was locked down!

He was the one that Baekhyun and Suho were hunting. Though he never met Suho yet, Baekhyun talked fondly of the other man on most occasions.

A nightmare straight out of his head, but Chanyeol couldn’t stay put any longer as the event played out. He hauled his gear together and began to move out to regain something important that was lost in the city. If he didn’t stand up for Kyungsoo, then who was going to show the sullen man that there really was a light at an end of a tunnel of cold shadows?

Meanwhile, as Chanyeol locked his door, Kyungsoo was exhausted with a hoarse voice in an alleyway, hoping that he lost the two heroes that were trying to apprehend him. He managed to survive this long because he couldn’t leave this realm of reality without saying goodbye to his boyfriend at least one last time. But even after he gave his farewells, Kyungsoo was driven to still foray into the battlefield until he gained his freedom and live gracefully with his lover. He wanted to live…

The singer needed water for his dry throat and a tube of ointment for the burn on the side of his right thigh. His peach skin turned crisp around the wound and deep red in the middle. He barely managed to dodge a slash from Sun’s laser-blade-thingy. He really was unsure of what kind of weapon he wanted to call it. Either way, the flashlight proved to not be a toy or to shine light anywhere, for it was far more dangerous than most close combat weapons he’d faced before.

Kyungsoo questioned how long Yixing lasted against these guys, but he kept his focus on trying to catch his breath because the intense battling wore him out. There was no opening the duo left for Kyungsoo’s sound-based attacks to reach, and it was hell to close the distance with Sun’s insane hapkido skills accompanied by fencing techniques. Kyungsoo couldn’t disable the weapon in Sun’s hand because the hero’s body was a weapon overall. Plus, the photokinetic bastard was sneaky with his powers. Nearly erasing Kyungsoo’s body with a single large-radius beam.

One thing was for sure: these guys didn’t fuck around. Kyungsoo had to think of a way to divert their attention long enough for him to fully escape the city to hide at his and Chanyeol’s apartment.

He breathed collectively as the shadows hid him well. The trash cans and bags nearby stank, and he swore that the stains on the brick walls were pissed on. If it wasn’t, then he could probably guess it was vomit instead. Either way, he relaxed despite the stench because he wasn’t seen by any of the heroes ye…

“I found the lost mermaid,” Baekhyun started from above the alleyway, snickering to himself as he floated in midair. “Suho, now!”

 _Fuck me_. Kyungsoo had to run out of the corner to get out of being trapped, but the entrance and exit of the alleyway became blocked by an enormous body of water. “Shit,” Kyungsoo backtracked to think of another way out.

Junmyeon appeared behind the wall that he placed to prevent the villain from going anywhere. From the mass of liquid, he conjured up multiple rows of swords as Baekhyun held a small ball of light in his hands. They shared a small exchange of glances before coordinating their attacks in synchronization.

Kyungsoo watched as Suho made the swords fly towards his direction simultaneously when Sun bombarded from above with his bullets of light. Kyungsoo thought of a bright idea and faced at the wall on his left and blasted it with a powerful soundwave to take refuge into the building. Luckily, the debris flying in the area covered Kyungsoo’s disappearance long enough for him to find another place to hide.

“Looks like he escaped us again,” Baekhyun sulked, flying towards the hole that Kyungsoo left behind.

“Tragic,” Junmyeon monotone statement made Baekhyun smile with mischievous intent.

“Flood it,” Baekhyun directed, earning a small hum of agreement from his partner. The large wall of water began moving rapidly like a snake into the building and searched for the missing mouse that they were chasing.

It really wasn’t Kyungsoo’s thing to be on the run, but he supposed he also knew when the enemies were too strong for him to handle alone. He barely managed to jump through the window from the top floor of the next building over because the previous building was inundated with water. It was horrifying to see the lengths that Hero 04 and 07 would go to catch Kyungsoo. The fact that they got an entire section of the city to be excavated for this purpose built a small foundation of anxiety in his gut.

Something planned of this caliber was possible with power, money, and influence. Something Kyungsoo despised the truth that it held.

“Top floor window is broken, so he must have escaped to the next building over,” Junmyeon reported to Baekhyun about the whereabouts of their target. Surprising, the water he sent out was almost like his second body with its own eyes, ears, and touch.

Another hero spontaneously appeared from behind the duo, but the smile on Baekhyun’s face made it apparent that it was not an enemy. “Ah, Jongin, you’re here. This makes the chase easier while preserving our strength.”

“Yeah, yeah, the rest of my squad should be here to assist you in your pursuit,” Jongin provided the additional information to the duo.

“Wow. Well, damn. Bring the whole South Korean army why don’t we?” Baekhyun happily joked, but he was giving off an ominous aura that threw off Jongin’s concentration.

Jongin made physical contact with the duo and teleported them to the location of his squad to discuss the new plan of action.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol arrived -more like landed, he, for the first time, fabricated wings of flame to fly over in record time- at the heart of the city, a couple blocks away from the mess that Kyungsoo and the duo made. The pyrokinetic wandered in hopes of finding a sign of life in the deserted city, and the sun already reached a good elevation to brightly forecast light upon the awfully silent streets. It was like stepping into a maze, and Chanyeol was lost without any knowledge of which direction would lead him to his boyfriend quickly.

How in the earth was he supposed to find Kyungsoo… wait. The news mentioned that the area should technically be evacuated, so it meant that there shouldn’t be many human heat signatures in the first place. Thus, he turned on his thermal vision -thank goodness that his mask had this beautiful fucking feature- and searched buildings after buildings for somebody precious to him.

The game of finding the Siren was on for everyone.

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo was pleased once he found the pharmacy and took care of his wounds. He really didn’t want the owners to be troubled by his sudden looting, so Kyungsoo left behind enough money from his wallet to pay for it and leave a little extra also. It was a miracle that he still had his wallet after engaging in such intense fighting with single-digit heroes. As if the world finally pitied him and gave him a break, the convenience store was next door to the pharmacy, which meant Kyungsoo could eat a little and drink something refreshing for his throat. 

Before doing as he desired, Kyungsoo released a soft yet high-pitch frequency that echoed throughout the street for a short radius.

Good.

It seemed no one knew where he was for the time being. Kyungsoo took pride in learning how to use echolocation to his advantage.

All at the same time, Chanyeol searched for the past hour, hoping to find something to trace Kyungsoo, but it showed to be futile. However, there was an odd mass of body signatures from the inside of the lobby of a hotel building. In the mood to investigate it, he recklessly walked into to find… his friends?

“Chanyeol?” They all greeted him warmly in a simultaneous manner.

Baekhyun’s quizzical look became intrigued with a smug. “What are you doing here, little birdy? Felt lonely at home and heard that we were all here and wanted to help us find _Siren_?”

Chanyeol froze in place, and it wasn’t because of Minseok’s ice powers. In actuality, it was the fear that his secret life with Kyungsoo was coming to end. As if the four horsemen told him that this was going to be where the world would be visited by damnation. The displeasure on his face covered by his mask saved him having to explain his discomfort in seeing his friends’ enthusiasm to hunt his boyfriend.

Noticing how long his response was or maybe his body movement gave off his sullen disposition, Junmyeon brought it up strictly, “I know we haven’t met, but I hear enough from Baekhyun, anyway. Furthermore, I can safely assume you’re not here to help _us_.”

“Ho-how did you know?” Chanyeol took off his mask and revealed the metaphorical fire in his eyes that he was ready to fight for his boyfriend’s life.

If you truly loved someone, you would be prepared to protect them with everything you got. It would be great if no one had to die because that overrated heroism wasn’t Chanyeol’s style typically, but, if all other choices were excluded, then he would commit that very fault.

“Clenched fists after the name Siren was mentioned. Your discomfort on your face. I can detect all this from the flow of your blood. Your body is an open book for me, Mr. Park,” Junmyeon presence made Chanyeol feel immediately inferior yet impressed.

“Oh,” Baekhyun gloomed over Junmyeon’s analysis. He stared openly with a hurt face at Chanyeol. “Are you really not on our side, Chanyeollie?”

Chanyeol was speechless but he shook his head left and right in a coward manner.

“Not another traitor. Not… another!!!” Baekhyun shouted, losing his usual cool and coy demeanor. A sad flame lighted in his eyes and subconsciously fired a barrage of light beams at Chanyeol.

It made a direct hit.

Pounded the flaming hero to the ground by Baekhyun’s unusual recklessness. However, Chanyeol was safely on the carpeted floor as Jongin and Minseok were by his side. A giant transparent turtle shell of ice took the attack from Baekhyun nicely.

“It’s not nice to hurt our friends, Baek,” Minseok reprimanded the photokinetic, not in the mood to play petty games.

“You should know how we all personally feel about it,” Jongin joined, now holding Chanyeol’s hand along with Minseok. “I don’t think it’s safe here anymore,” Jongin stated loudly to rub salt into Baekhyun’s eyes, and he teleported the trio to somewhere in the vicinity to reconstruct a plan.

“What the fuck!” Baekhyun angrily slammed his fist on the ground as his heart felt the betrayal sting deep as the first time that Yixing did to all of them. It was beginning to scare him. The darkness seeping from his heart, and he needed to eradicate it all with his overwhelming brightness. But why did the sun that blinded everyone have the biggest shadow following it around? 

 

* * *

 

 

Kyungsoo crept through alleyways and avoided open streets as much as possible. He found himself occupied at a flower shop, wondering if Chanyeol was missing him. He picked up the lilacs and admired the purple beauties in his hands.

An unwanted breeze was blowing when it shouldn’t be drafty. Kyungsoo turned around to see two men descending to face him bravely.

“Found him,” Sehun communicated to Baekhyun with a small earpiece lunged in his ear.

“Got it. We’re moving to your coordinates immediately. Restrict his movements,” Baekhyun’s voice ordered from the other side.

“Scorpion, hear that?”

“Of course,” Jongdae frowned, having a wrenching feeling in his stomach as him someone hammered a thousand nails into him.

The two heroes forgot about their masks, which made it quite difficult for Kyungsoo to find the will to fight because he _recognized_ that these were Chanyeol’s friends. Despite not being all too close to them, Kyungsoo figured that Chanyeol would prefer everyone to be peaceful as opposed of fatally injuring someone. Utterly honoring that decision, Kyungsoo was going to ensure that he gave Chanyeol’s friends as minimum damage inflicted as possible. Besides, it would become a pretense of a promise if he told himself that he would do it without hurting someone once or twice.

The thing about street fighting was that the rules were that there were no rules. There wasn’t a code of conduct that the competitors had against each other. It was the bloodlust driving them to pummel each other to a pulp. It was barbaric, but the real downfall was that a one-on-one battle was almost non-existent.

“We found you,” Baekhyun’s voice ringed through Kyungsoo’s ears. The photokinetic was able to transport him and his aquakinetic partner through a pocket dimension of light, which, to keep the science of it to a minimum, in other words meant that Baekhyun teleported them to Kyungsoo’s location. “I really dislike the use of teleportation since it would put Jongin out of a job,” Baekhyun attempted to joke around, lighten the mood, but he instead succeeded in spoiling his own mood while saying the traitorous name from his lips.

Kyungsoo was suddenly embodied in a blob of water, which surprised him because there shouldn’t be an existing water source nearby except… he swished his head around to see the lifeless brown flowers that were all alive a minute ago. _Siphoning the water from plants!? What kind of monster?_ Kyungsoo thought as he held his breath to the best of his abilities.

Baekhyun knew that underneath that bubble that Siren would be useless, which made him chuckle to see the irony of a siren that didn’t belong to the cold waters. He transitioned his faltering smile to Junmyeon, whose hand was facing towards the villain, controlling the power and density of his water manipulation. His voice died at first, hacking down a lump, “You know, Junmyeon-ya, you didn’t have to take 07’s rank when you definitively belong as 01.”

“Like rivers, I carry all my stones at the bottom and cherish them deeply.”

“There you go again, speaking in poems,” Baekhyun sighed, closing his eyes for a second before sensing something in the vicinity. Something burdensome. He turned his head to the right to see a pleasant sight before him. “Ah, looks like the traitors came back for a fight.”

Chanyeol was maskless but was ultimately pissed at what he saw with his own eyes. To see Kyungsoo struggling to breathe, he looked at Minseok and Jongin in hopes of providing him support in this desperate time. “Minseok, please,” Chanyeol commented, earning an honest nod from the cryokinetic.

“Please, let’s not do this,” Jongdae voiced his opinion, hoping to persuade his friends to not bicker in this unnecessary situation. A villain needed to be punished. It was why they were assigned as heroes in the first place. This conflicted with too much of the code of conduct that he kept in his head.

“Sorry,” Jongin shrugged, quickly touching Minseok’s hand and teleporting them to be next to the water bubble that Siren was stuck in.

Minseok froze the water to momentarily cut Junmyeon’s control, but he knew it would do little to save them because ice was still another form of _water_. To avoid being overpowered, he made spikes from the sphere of ice to stretch out to attack the Baekhyun, Junmyeon, Sehun, and Jongdae, forcing them to evade smoothly. Prompting that the diversion was successful, Jongin touched the frozen material and Minseok and brought them back to Chanyeol’s side. In and out. Simple and clean work from professionals.

Junmyeon brows furrowed deeply as his nostrils hollowed outwards. “This is defiance towards Heroes Society. You all know the consequences if you let that villain go,” he snarled at the other side of metahumans.

Chanyeol returned a glance but never faltered in his decision to rescue his boyfriend. This wasn’t a debate. This was for love. “I love him,” Chanyeol confessed, giving Minseok the cue to crack open the shell and let Kyungsoo be free the prison. “And he’s a great person. His own faults and past can’t always hold him down. He’s trying to free himself to be something better.”

The villain fell out like yolk from an egg, but Kyungsoo had seen worse days. His clothes were still wet as mop though the adequate response should be that he wanted to take off the mask that still stuck to his face. So, he did. Evidently shocking everyone but Chanyeol of his identity.

“Kyungsoo!?” Baekhyun was the first to shout it out before anyone else. “I should have known.”

“Yeah, yeah, you nutjob, I just want to get my freedom from my organization already,” Kyungsoo uttered his annoyance with the situation that shouldn’t have blown out of proportion. “I’m tired of playing villain. Can’t I just be good, too?”

Baekhyun mustered up his energy and laid down a giant wall of light between the two differing sides. “You wanna talk? Fine. But this wall is here to protect us from Kyungsoo’s powers. I can choose which sound waves can penetrate through”

“I’m curious,” Kyungsoo’s smirk returned on his face, “how strong is it?”

“Go ahead and play with it, kid,” Baekhyun taunted, giving Kyungsoo a little provocation to do so.

“Since you said so,” Kyungsoo shoved Chanyeol and his friends behind his back as he prepared himself to give everyone a taste of his abilities.

“Ya!” Chanyeol began to hold Kyungsoo back from doing something stupid. “No more fighting!”

“Oh, come on, let the man try it—” BANG! The barrier suddenly had a dent that made Baekhyun’s own eyes widen to the immense power that was displayed. It was lucky that it didn’t shatter it, but he was still surprised that Chanyeol was able to condense the energy into a straight beam of heat in such short time. No charge up or anything.

“I prefer everyone to be friendly, but I can get violent, too,” Chanyeol warned towards the photokinetic.

“Let’s not, then,” Yixing suddenly appeared from an alleyway, surprising everyone of his arrival. He first stepped up to Kyungsoo’s thigh and healed the wound nonchalantly. He received a token of Kyungsoo’s gratitude and one from a tall puppy-looking hero. He wasn’t sure who he was, but the other man seemed close to Kyungsoo. No matter to Yixing as he had other matters to attend to.

“What are you even doing here?” Junmyeon softly gaped at the healing doctor.

“May I hug you? For old time’s sake?” Yixing politely asked, smiling from both ends of his cheeks, opening his arms like he was a sort of saint.

Junmyeon sighed but didn’t hesitate to accept the warm welcome. “I miss you. I really do, but Baek’s a bit…”

“I know,” Yixing whispered, rubbing the other man’s back with tenderness that invoked a deep admiration inside of their maze-heart.

Baekhyun already down his shield, but he was still defensive with Yixing around. He put up a good front last time he saw the betraying best friend, but he gave up and wandered a little purposelessly to Junmyeon’s back and crouched into the shadow of the aquakinetic. “This whole situation with Kyungsoo-ssi and Chanyeol-ssi reminded me of the day that you… you know.”

Reluctant to release Junmyeon from Yixing’s grip, fearing that the man would once again disappear into the shadow of Baekhyun’s undermined hurt and anguish, so he didn’t let go. Not even for a minute. Instead, he lowered his left hand to reach Baekhyun’s fluff of hair and ruffled it teasingly. “I’m sorry that I did what I had to do back then, but my endless apologizing won’t bring back the dead. Your hurt and lament won’t bring them back either. So, why don’t we just try to reconcile and move on together?”

Thinking, maybe, possibly, that Yixing was right. But Baekhyun didn’t want to believe. Although, it failed. He caressed the healer’s thumb and took the hand by the whole and cried loudly.

Junmyeon familiarized himself with Yixing’s scent and murmured into the healer’s ear. “He was strong all this time. He didn’t even cry when you killed them. He only wanted to smile afterward as if the sun doesn’t get any rainy days.”

“I figured,” said Yixing, holding loosely to Baekhyun’s trembling fingers. “Please help Siren escape. Don’t let him do what I had to selfishly do. Make this time different from the last.”

 

* * *

 

 

As an effort to form a sort of truce, Baekhyun invited everyone to a luxury hotel that he owned out in New York. Yixing couldn’t attend because being a doctor meant that there wasn’t really a day, or time, for him to rest. Everyone had to travel by Baekhyun’s private jet to get the location. Regardless of how close everyone was supposed to be with each other, they all sat in dense silence, making it an awkward plane ride there.

Chanyeol stood Kyungsoo close to as they both wandered into a widely capacious ballroom where there was a single horizontal table suited to seat all seven guests and the owner of the very hotel. “Maybe we should invest into a building like this, too,” Chanyeol whispered to Kyungsoo, getting a jab to his kidney from his boyfriend, before getting seated alongside the singer on the right corner.

Baekhyun sat on the other end, directly in the middle to signify his royal presence to everyone except Junmyeon, who didn’t bother to take his seat next to adjacent to the photokinetic but stood behind him as if he was guarding his partner. There was a glass of wine and water placed properly in front of each person, so it would be wise to not engage in violence if anyone wanted to live through Suho’s wrath.

Minseok and Jongin were stuffing their face with the food that Baekhyun’s chefs prepared as obnoxiously loud as they could be together. Jongdae and Sehun sat across from them and could only peer with equal disgust on their face at their embarrassing, shameless friends.

“So, Kyungsoo, you’re going to retire?” Baekhyun thickly asked the question, not paying attention if the finely cooked steak in front of him was going cold already. He figured that with Chanyeol around, it would be easier to ask the pyrokinetic for a favor than send it back.

“Yes, I am,” Kyungsoo deadpanned, not yet trusting the conclusion that they were all at truce with each other. The singer palmed his hand over where grazed wound once was on his right thigh. It gave him a sensation that Baekhyun was still an enemy to him.

“Still hostile as ever,” Baekhyun left it at that, but he nodded to Kyungsoo’s choice of words. “I’ll give up the case since this became overly complicated than originally proposed.”

Chanyeol beamed. “I’m glad—”

“But, it’s not something that can happen without struggle,” Baekhyun forced his comment out.

“I don’t follow.”

“Of course, as long as Siren is alive, the case is still up for grabs for anyone else rather than Junmyeon or I.”

Junmyeon rolled his eyes and sternly glanced at Chanyeol. “He means, we should fake Siren’s death to help your lover out.”

Chanyeol shared a blank stare with Kyungsoo as they sat in silence together.

The outrageous idea was stark mad! It was… logical and could work. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo both cocked their head as to why they didn’t think of doing this earlier. It could work since Baekhyun, and a little bit from Junmyeon, knew Kyungsoo enough to sympathize with Chanyeol on trying to live a life without their powers being an obstacle of their love.

Elated, Chanyeol could wag a tail if he had one, “So, what’s the plan?”

“Okay, so here’s the strat,” Baekhyun articulated the conditions of the elaborate action they were all going to perform.

 

* * *

 

 

H.S. had complete trust in Sun and Suho when they went on missions together or were tasked on a special case. A common trait from Sun was that he would obliterate the villains to dust, so there would often not be a body left behind. They trusted that Sun was going to do that Siren and wouldn’t dare try to send a forensic team to investigate the aftermath.

Riding on this idea, Baekhyun was sure that if he could play a good fight and blast Kyungsoo while having Jongin on the side, ready to teleport to Kyungsoo’s side to also transfer them both at the last second to a safe location until Baekhyun could report to H.S. that the Siren was no more.

Thus, the plan would succeed while Kyungsoo was under the radar once again. It meant freedom without having to kill any more heroes and villains for the singer. Of course, the plan couldn’t be implemented until next month because it would give enough time for Kyungsoo to withdraw all his money from his bank and personally keep it ready for the great escape.

Being dead meant that his bank was going to be closed and locked. Better get the money while he was considered ‘alive’ for the time being.

The next part was for Kyungsoo to stay on a low-profile until the big day arrived. It would help build the image that he was on the run from Baekhyun and Junmyeon’s pursuit. Giving the lie a layer of color and depth, Kyungsoo supposed this was for the best. There was a reason why a rainbow, something almost magical and cheerful to see, was visible after the rain.

When the actual time came, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were resting together at home, adjusted to the leisure from their hefty hero/villain life, cuddling close on the couch as a movie played on TV, which they stopped focusing to the actors when their lips found each other more interesting.

Chanyeol whispered, “You’re not scared, are you?”

“No,” Kyungsoo rubbed his nose against the other man’s respective nose, “not at all.”

 

 

 

 

The river bank was where it would be settled among them. Kyungsoo found himself in a tight spot once again, cornered like a wild animal. It was degrading to know such a high-ranking villain like himself was reduced to this state. Regardless, he was going to be freed from the darkness that haunted him, so it was an opportune chance to grasp while it was still in his bloodied hands.

A crowd formed in the surrounding area, but they kept a large distance to prevent getting caught up in the crossfire. Chanyeol had to participate in taking down his own boyfriend in order to make it look realistic while not having H.S. up his ass about his betrayal and not giving him his needed retirement. He endeavored the worse, but he was not ready to essentially burn Kyungsoo to a crisp. However, he remembered how Kyungsoo was ready to counter his flames with low bass sounds. So, perhaps it wouldn’t come out to a shitshow.

Kyungsoo was surrounded as he sat where he and Chanyeol shared their passionate kissing session with alcohol and chocolate. He intercepted an incoming fire blast with his frequency wave, but he narrowly escaped the precise forward thrust that came from Baekhyun’s lightsaber -it was a normal fucking flashlight, but the photokinetic was able to bring it up to the next level- and side-rolled from an aerial attack from Junmyeon’s water-made serpent.

 _Gosh, I knew they wanted to make it look real, but at this rate, I might as well destroy them all!_ Kyungsoo struggled to keep his composure, breathing heavily into his mask, sweat threatening to trickle down the side of his neck. The sun shining brightly in his face mocked him despite that all this hard work would eventually pay off.

Jongin was carefully hiding behind the shadows in a distance, spectating the match for the cue to jump in and rescue Kyungsoo from predicted death. “Sheesh, guys, don’t have to really murder the guy to make it look real,” he wanted to admonish his team, knowing intently that he would not be heard from this distance.

Minseok really pitied Chanyeol as he figured that there probably was another way for this to resolve, but it was too late for any new actions to be enacted now that they were this far into the current plan. He stood by as Sehun launched into the sky with Jongdae, the sound barrier breaking as they ascended. “Aigoo, here comes that dangerously destructive combo,” Minseok lamented for Kyungsoo, feeling that this was going to come out bloodier than expected.

Everyone watched with interest as two spirals of blue and white energy were entwining with each other into the sky. Kyungsoo figured this was meant for him to block, but he seriously thought to himself about how intense was this fight supposed to be for the audience monitoring them? Wasn’t that attack a little overwhelming to show?

The sky cracked and darkened before a menacing tornado imbued with lightning essence raged downwards to Kyungsoo’s pinpoint position.

Kyungsoo sighed, “Seriously, what the hell is that?”

“Just attempt to block it, Siren-ssi!” Baekhyun loudly and obnoxiously taunted as their ears were flooded with the sound of the wind roaring throughout the area.

“I have a better idea,” Kyungsoo smirked, singing a frequency to constrict Baekhyun’s body, forcing it to move against the owner’s will. “How about _you_ block it?”

“What an asshole,” Baekhyun was the one to sigh this time, being placed next to Kyungsoo’s side involuntarily, but he arranged a giant light barrier to protect himself and Kyungsoo from the devastating combo from Jongdae and Sehun. Still, he could see the training the two went through were bearing fruit as the attack was drilling into the particles of his shield, but it still lacked the overwhelming power needed to completely penetrate his defense.

Once released from Kyungsoo’s frequency, Baekhyun turned to face the singer and openly slashed the air with his saber but missed the mark unintentionally since Kyungsoo foresaw it before it was motioned. It was admirable that someone was able to predict incoming danger while being stuck at the forefront like this.

“Let’s wrap this up!” Baekhyun released a clamor, teleporting himself into the sky and began to charge a beam that would, if not dodged, erase Kyungsoo’s flesh, skin, bones, and everything else into nothing.

Rehearsed in secret, this was where it mattered. This was where it was going to be settled for the world to see…

Chanyeol touched the grass and lit it aflame as it snaked its way over to Kyungsoo, surrounding him in a ring of screaming fire. Minseok and Junmyeon added a layer of ice walls to limit the movement of Siren while leaving a large opening above for the finale to rain down. Jongdae nonchalantly tossed his lightning into the walls to give it a little shock while Sehun used the wind pressure to hold down anything from escaping from the top of the shell they were all creating. Finally, Baekhyun finger pistol pointed directly below at Kyungsoo and fired a light beam so powerful that it made little to no noise as it cascaded downwards in beautiful, glowing fluorescent hue.

“Ah, this is my despair,” Kyungsoo smiled at the light and accepted his fate, closing his eyes, heart rate slowing, hands unable to tremble over the might of everyone’s combined powers. 

 

 

 

  

“Siren has been eliminated by our brave heroes!!”

“Once again, Heroes Society shows us the true power of justice!”

All the news reports made Chanyeol snicker to himself as he finished requesting his retirement. They granted it for the hard work he produced all these years and told him to rest easy for the remaining part of his life. They told him politely to wait for about two weeks for it to be finalized, but he couldn’t care about how fast his retirement was going to come because the life he truly wanted was coming true, anyway.

 

* * *

 

 In the years to come after the defeat of Siren, the power struggle between villains and heroes continued on like a never-ending film. But, on the bright side, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo's story was no longer a part of that plot, simply cut out and tossed away in the wind to be free.

Everyone else's story? Yixing still was stuck in his hospital helping treat the injured heroes with the new welcoming arms to villains as well. Every day for him may have been a little strange, but he supposed nothing normal entered his life from the start. He was fine with the outcome he came to. This life style was fine. A box he thought was containing him was finally starting to dissipate and transform into something he could call a home... with the occasional visits from Baekhyun and Junmyeon to brighten his day when the workload can become overwhelming. Little by little, he could feel his relationship with them and the rest of his old friends reviving itself again. 

Of course, Baekhyun and Junmyeon still rained as part of the strongest heroes, but the slow release of their pettiness and hatred for the doctor finally gave them the closure they needed to move on with their respective lives. Baekhyun can bask under the sun without feeling like he was burning under all its might while Junmyeon can stop the suffocation he felt underneath all the pressure in trying to remedy his relationship with Yixing and forgiving the past. They also began to see villains in different light thanks to both Kyungsoo and Yixing's guidance to being empathetic towards the opposite side of the same coin. The two became willing to change H.S. from the inside to associate with a trial system for villains in attempt to clear them of being falsely judged. With the new judicial system in place, villains can be proven innocent, given forgiveness, and even another chance at a new life with proper judgment and probation. The world wasn't going to change over the course of a day and a night, but in time with progress, it will surely change.

But Chanyeol's old teammates? Jongin continued to pursue a career in modelling and dancing to pass the time while he was fighting crime. Jongdae became a popular singer that raided the South Korean charts with his singles. One-hit wonders each time he gave the media a taste of his explosive vocals with control and power. And Minseok? He was the talk-show host that everyone on TV tuned in to watch because of his bubbly personality and baby-faced looks captured the hearts of many viewers. Although, his occasion wet white t-shirts exposed a lot of his delicious abs for the audience to indulge and change their perspective on him being just 'cute.' Sehun was a fun case as he often making various appearances in magazines and TV shows for his manliness, charming looks, and gentle personality. Sehun found himself busy trying to dominate the fashion world with his impressive and classy clothing line. They all were doing something to enjoy their normal lives before their duty calls for them once again. A human was still a human, and they needed time to convert their frustration and stress into relaxation and tranquility with needed vacations. Maybe on the next vacation they all could visit Kyungsoo and Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo gave his share of money to Chanyeol as they both purchased a private island separated from the world. It was funny to think that an actual whole island was theirs. Their new life called forth new adventures, but they happily accepted the outcome as they were finally able to be together without worrying about being a hero or a villain to one another. The late night disappearances, the livid fights, or the painful mystery of getting to know that one day the other person will suddenly disappear. It was all over. That part of their life...over. The clothes washed and cleaned, then dried and hot, the vicious cycle was finished and can be put down. Finally, they can have everything in between.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this fic! I cannot thank everyone enough for choosing to get through this fic-of-an-experiment of mine! I love all of you. Leave kudos, constructive comments (Let's talk about things you enjoyed or disliked! Questions that you need to be answered or just to appreciate the fic!), bookmark the story, and etc. Everyone take care of themselves c:


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